


Blood Orange

by Thatwasntveryprincelyofyou



Category: Sanders Sides
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Logan is a vampire, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Patton is a Werewolf, Relationship might change to romantic LAMP but for now it’s Platonic LAMP, Roman is a Mage, Sickness, Swearing, Virgil is a Human, injuries, some blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-03-27 17:04:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13885236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatwasntveryprincelyofyou/pseuds/Thatwasntveryprincelyofyou
Summary: Virgil is just your average 26 year old male who’s trying to get away from his family home. He gets a new house for a great price and it’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere. But his life gets turned flipped upside down when three strange males come to him, apparently not at all human. Will Virgil flee or will he decide to stay and live with this bizarre family of supernatural beings?





	1. The Arrival

“I hope you like your new house Mister Sanders! And if there’s any problems you have, just give me a call!” The all too chipper real estate agent exclaimed as she gave Virgil Sanders a quick handshake, before pulling away and whipping out a small rectangular card from her pocket. She pulled it out so fast Virgil was sure if he had been closer, she would’ve shaved a few centimeters off his nose. He gave her a polite but weak smile as he took the business card from her, finding her full name and number on it. She gave him one last huge smile before turning and walking back to her red Jeep. 

He watched silently as the car started and drove off, kicking up clouds of dust behind it. Soon enough, the roar of the engine from the machine died out, leaving the male in complete and utter silence. 

Virgil turned, staring up at the house, not really being able to believe that this was actually his. It was a two story house, colored baby blue with two bedrooms and two baths. The paint on the outside was chipping away, coming off in peeled, faded loops. The inside walls weren’t much better. The house was old and it had obviously been abandoned for quite sometime. Weeds had started to sprout around the edges of the place, and the once beautiful, flourishing lawn now a graveyard of dry, yellow grass. Someone did clean it up a bit before Virgil toured around the building, but it still had that lonely, very quiet and unkempt feeling and look about it. 

It was dirt cheap anyway, so why did that really matter. Virgil had a low budget. It wasn’t the most luxurious place out there, but it was better than being stuck in his parent’s place. Furniture was already there anyway, just a bit of cleaning and it would be home sweet home. 

Virgil sighed softly as he spun on his heel and went to the back of his old 1987 Hatchback and opened up the trunk. Sure, it was far from impressive and definitely had seen better days, but this baby had been his get away and he barely ran into any problems with it, except for a flat tire and a new battery. No car crashes or major problems. 

He pulled out a grand total of three bags, one backpack and two medium sized suitcases. With a bit of struggle, he closed the trunk and locked the car, throwing the backpack over one shoulder and dragging the two suitcases behind him. He did get a house that was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but that didn’t mean someone wouldn’t try and come steal his vehicle. You didn’t know how desperate some people could be until the thing is actually stolen and gone. 

Virgil unlocked the door, with some struggle actually. He almost couldn’t get his key back out of the lock. He mentally noted to save up and buy a new lock for the front door. 

The man huffed as he dragged his belongings inside, kicking the door closed with his foot. Honestly, he didn’t have much of his own things that he needed to bring with him. One suitcase was full of his clothes and other spare pair of shoes (which were surprise surprise converse), while the other was filled with miscellaneous things, like posters and other band things he had collected over the years. And then his backpack was full of his electronics; phone, laptop, chargers, headphones and backup headphones. 

The pale man kicked his shoes off at the front door and walked deeper inside of the house. He passed by the living room and kitchen and made his way up the creaky stairs. Virgil’s skin had a pale complexion, makeup helping that a little bit, and his body was lanky and long. He was skinny, but almost an unhealthy skinny. He had dark brown hair, his quite long fringe colored a midnight purple, slightly faded since he dyed it a few weeks ago. Deep, dark brown eyes, that in dim lighting, almost looked black. And to top it off, he wore all black from his torso, all the way down to his toes. 

Letting go of one of the suitcases, Virgil reached forward and opened the door of his now new bedroom. It wasn’t anything special. Just a twin bed in the corner with an old desk across from it and a dresser. In the other corner, a large golden mirror sat silently, showing off Virgil’s reflection to him. Virgil eyed it for a few seconds, deciding he would move it to the other room later. Mirrors always gave him an eerie feeling. But right now, it was time to unpack. 

—————————

“What do you see?” A voice questioned, a little high in pitch and excited, but a male’s nonetheless. 

“He’s unpacking his belongings. Wait a glob stopping minute- is that a My Chemical Romance poster? Oh, this is just great! We have an emo who moved in!” Another voice answered, loud and broad. 

“I do not believe it matters whether or not this person is an ‘emo’ or not. It matters on whether we can trust this human to live in our house.” A third voice chided, serious and monotone. 

“Well, I like him! He seems like a swell guy! We should meet him tonight!” The first voice squealed. 

“Really? You want to meet Oh Dark And Mysterious tonight? Don’t you think that’s a little soon? I mean, the only information we have on him is that he’s a hardcore emo. I mean, look! A Panic! At The Disco poster! What’s next, is he going to pull out a Fall Out Boy T-shirt?” The loud voice exclaimed hotly. 

“Actually, I believe they are pulling out a Nightmare Before Christmas poster-“

“Woah, wait really? Let me see let me see-“

“Anyway, he does have a point. We have only been watching him for a very short time.”

The excited voice said, “I just have this gut feeling, kiddos! And you know how I hate spying at someone through a mirror. I know it’s for precautions, but I really do think this one will be good this time! Come on! And we never really know what they’ll think until we come out and talk to them.”

Two beats of silence. “Ugh, fine! What do you think, Teach?”

There was a bit of silence, most likely from the person adjusting their glasses. “...alright, I suppose we can go tonight. But we must all take extra precautious. We cannot let what happened last time happen again.”

“Yay! Thank you so much, you won’t regret it!”


	2. Intruding... Or Not

After hanging up the last article of clothing in his closet, Virgil stepped back and admired his work. It actually turned out pretty good. It looked a lot like his old room, to be honest. The posters and the few drawings he actually thought deserved to be shown off, even if they would only been shown off to him, now decorated the plain white walls, giving the room life. His clothes were away in either the closet or the dresser and his few knick knacks were seated on the desk. 

With a sigh of satisfaction, Virgil plopped down on his bed, checking the time on his phone. 6:30 PM. Huh, so he was working on this longer than he expected. Then again, he might have had a little dance session in between. Yes, it was hard to believe that Virgil actually danced, but it didn’t matter how shitty your moves were if nobody was there to see them. 

A loud growl from his stomach told Virgil it was time for dinner. He did have breakfast with his family at about ten or so in the morning, apparently to ‘congratulate him on his new house’ and tell him how much they’ll ‘miss’ him. It was a bunch of BS but, hey, at least he got a free breakfast. 

Virgil slipped on his headphones as he exited his room, smiling to himself as he bobbed his head to the beat of Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea by Fall Out Boy. He had been oddly obsessed with this song ever since it came out. Whether it was the splash of French that had been thrown in or the hard thuds of the bass in the beginning, it sent shivers down his spine when he first listened to it. 

The kitchen was just your basic cooking area honestly. Counters, sink, oven, fridge, cupboards. Just your bare necessities. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it would work. 

Although, when Virgil opened the cupboards to possibly salvage anything that could’ve been left behind by anyone, he found the cupboards actually filled with food. It was mostly instant Mac N’ Cheese and mashed potatoes that you could pop in the microwave with some water, but he didn’t stock this himself. 

He ran a hand over one of the boxes and pulled back, finding no dust on his fingers. This was... odd. Did the real estate agent take some sort of guess he wasn’t exactly the most wealthiest man she had met and bought him this food? 

No. Even though she had been very chirpy and nice, it was only because he was her client. 

His dark brown orbs landed on a box of Ritz crackers, the red box standing out from the microwaveable ramen noodles that surrounded it. He slowly pulled the box out, turning it around and around in his hands. 

It didn’t look like it had been tampered with. It hadn’t even been opened. 

Slowly, he dug his fingers into the top of the box and ripped it open, finding the bag inside that held the crackers not open either. Pulling the bag out, he held it in his hands and turned it around and around, squeezing it a little. 

It still had air trapped inside, so the bag hadn’t been punctured. So they hadn’t been tampered with at all. 

This was odd. Too odd. Virgil’s eyes darted around the kitchen as if expecting to see eyes peaking at him from the dark corners, or a glimpse of someone high tailing it to another hiding place to watch him silently from a different angle. 

Virgil closed his eyes and forced himself to breath and calm down. He was done worrying about this, worrying about anything. What did it matter at this point anyway? Whether it was because at this point Virgil was just done or he didn’t want to believe that someone else could’ve been here before, he didn’t want to deal with this right now. 

Sliding the bag of crackers back into its rightful place in the box, he shut the cupboard and marched out of the kitchen with the snack in his hand. Ritz crackers wasn’t exactly a meal, but fuck it. It’s his life, he’ll eat these damn crackers for dinner if he wants to. 

Virgil was back in his room, sitting cross legged on his bed as he grabbed one of the circular treats and popped it into his mouth. It was rich, and definitely could’ve used some of that cheese that squirts from a can, but it was good enough for now. 

Virgil eventually laid back on his bed, the fluffy comforter that had already been on top surrounded him a little, causing him to let out a slow huff of breath. His breathing came out slow and calm, the thoughts in his head pulling him around to different thoughts and memories before he brought him to a certain one he usually thought of quite a bit. His eyelids shut, the box of Ritz crackers still in his hand. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was late at night. Virgil was sitting up in his room, staying out of sight from, well, everyone. He had to have been, what, ten? Eleven maybe? He honestly couldn’t remember. But that wasn’t really important. All that mattered was he was alone, completely alone. At least at the moment. His tiny body was curled up in a small, quivering ball in the corner of his room. He felt cold, loneliness deciding to blanket him in its chilly temperature that it always carried around with it. 

It was raining hard outside. Tat tat tattering against the glass. How cliche. Virgil remembered hearing the front door open somehow over the arguing of his parents. Body shaking so hard you could’ve sworn he might fall apart, covering his ears with his hands, just trying to block out everything. Still, the yelling could be heard. He hated yelling. God, he despised it. 

Virgil didn’t notice the footsteps that came to his door or the soft knock. Virgil didn’t notice when the door opened or the gentle steps of someone walking in. Virgil didn’t notice anyone had come in till that person had delicately touched his arm. His head shot up, dark brown orbs wide and fearful, but that fear soon disappeared. 

Thomas. It was just Thomas. His older brother, his hero. Thomas smiled sadly at the frightened boy, reaching up to gently swipe the damp hair from the kid’s forehead. Virgil didn’t even realize he was sweating. “Hey, Virge. I’m back home, I’m back. I’m here. I had a fun day at work today. Do you want to hear about what happened to Joan and the ice cream machine?” Thomas always had to do this. Steer Virgil’s attention from the yelling, like a steering a fragile car away from the dangerous forest that could scratch and tear at body of the vehicle. 

Virgil slid his hands off his ears, only so he could shoot forward and cling onto his big brother, burrowing deep into the warm and safe embrace of Thomas. Virgil’s attention was now on the other and his happy little story. His ears picked up on his light and quiet tone, and slowly but surely blocked out the other more harsher voices. 

It was just him and Thomas. Him and Thomas, sitting up in his room, just spending time together. No arguing parents. Just the two together. That was it. That was all. 

——————————

“Be careful, Patton! We do not want him to mistake us for intruders. That will only cause him to go into unnecessary panic.” Logan whispered to the excited male next to him, who had just ran into a small table near the couch and about knocked over a lamp. 

“I’m sorry! I’m just really, really excited!” Patton’s voice was muffled behind his hand, not wanting to let any squeals out. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, oddly not making much noise from his little bounces. 

“Alright, let’s just get this over with. I was in the middle of watching Cinderella and you two rudely interrupted me to meet this human.” Roman grumbled, his arms crossed over his chest as he pouted. 

“I swear, I sometimes forget you two our adult men and not children.” Logan murmured as he pinched the bridge of his nose for a second, ignoring the offended gasp that Princey made. Going with the plan they had came up with, Logan quietly led the other two up the stairs and to the room of the newcomer. The stairs barely even made a sound as the smart male seemed to put no weight on them at all, while Patton and Roman had a much harder time being quiet. 

Eventually, they did make it to their destination and Logan carefully and quietly opened the door, slipping in silently. The other two followed. “Roman, you did not tell us he was sleeping.” Logan said steadily, eye twitching ever so slightly. He gives him one job. One goddamn job. 

“Hey, he looked like he was just relaxing to me! I didn’t know when we got here he would be asleep!” Roman retorted in a hushed voice, his frustration not even hidden. 

“Well maybe if you would let us actually see what was going on this may not have happened!” As the two continued to bicker quietly, they didn’t notice a certain someone quietly approach the male that was laying on the bed and lean over him, blinking a few times down at him. 

Roman and Logan didn’t notice Patton give Virgil a few pokes to his arm. And they didn’t notice when Virgil stirred and slowly opened his eyes. They did notice, however, when Patton chirped out a “hi kiddo!” and was responded to with a loud scream from the man on the bed, a box of opened crackers falling out of his hand and dropping to the floor. 

—————————-

Virgil really didn’t see this coming, but the food in the cupboard should’ve been a dead giveaway to begin with. God, why did he just have to blow it over? Why, for once in his miserable existence, did he blow off his fears and anxiety and just ignore it? God, he was so stupid. 

The man that had woken him up and called him “kiddo”, was wearing khaki pants, a blue polo shirt, and a cardigan tied around his shoulders, giving Virgil a lot of Dad vibes honestly. The man had a little bit of chub on his body, but it suited him and made him have an appearance as someone who was friendly and couldn’t hurt a fly. Behind his thick framed glasses, two warm, chocolate brown orbs stared guiltily at him as he stepped back a bit. Strawberry blond curly hair that just seemed to be a light fluff on his head fell into his eyes a bit as he lowered his head slightly. Oh yes, and the freckles. The freckles added even more to the “hi I’m the nicest sunshine flower in the world that literally can’t hurt anything”. Still, the friendly, and honestly adorable appearance of the man didn’t make Virgil too much calmer, and he pushed himself as far away from the three as he could, which wasn’t much since he was just on his bed. “W-Who the f-fuck are you people? Why are you i-in my house?” He asked, wishing his voice could’ve been more steady. 

The man with the thinner framed glasses spoke up. “Well, technically, it is our house.” This man didn’t have the oddly comforting aura that the other seemed to radiate. His was much more serious. Whether it was because of the black polo and tie or the way he scarily reminded Virgil of one of his high school teachers, he couldn’t really pin point which it was. The man was tall and lanky, much like Virgil himself, but his seemed to be of a healthy kind of skinny. Piercing blue eyes seemed to stare straight through to his soul. He had high cheek bones and a very noticeable jawline, most likely adding to the intimidation. His hair was jet black and neatly slicked back, with only a few strands of hair falling somehow neatly onto his forehead. Everything about this man just screamed neatness and all work and no play. 

“The hell do you mean our house? T-This is my house, my name is under it. This better be some kind of joke.” Virgil’s fright was slowly having confusion mixed in, creating an odd brew of emotions bubble up inside him. However, it didn’t stop his rapid heartbeat and uneven breathing. 

“No, it’s not a joke, Dark Knight Rising. This is our house as well as yours. It’s a long story that we’ll tell you a different time, but there are more pressing matters we need to discuss first.” The third man spoke next, rolling his eyes indignantly. This man was far more built than the other two. It was easy to see the muscles under his dark red T-shirt that was pretty form fitting. He was a few inches taller than the man with the tie and seemed to be a bit more, well, extra. Vibrant green orbs seemed to stare at him with what Virgil could only say was judgement and uncertainty. Why did this stranger look like he didn’t trust Virgil? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? His, in all honest, handsome face was screwed up into a scowl, his jaw visibly clenching as he flicked his chestnut brown hair out of his face. It was almost crystal clear that this man didn’t usually keep his hair in a way that made it fall constantly into his face. 

“Pressing matters? Oh what, are you going to tell me about your knife collection you’ll use to torture me with?” Virgil spat out with bitter sarcasm lacing his tone. Buying his first house was to get away from everything. Not be caught up in something else that would be stress inducing. “Look man, just leave me alone, alright? Please.”

“I’m afraid we can’t do that.” The one with the tie said, adjusting the glasses on his nose. Virgil’s heartbeat sped up even faster. “You have bought the house, which means we have inevitably become roommates. We cannot leave you alone, as we do live here.” Roommates? Did Virgil just hear that correctly? Virgil was stunned and dazed into silence, not being able to respond, only gawk in shock. 

The Dad bit his lip quietly after a bit of silence, rubbing his hand up and down his arm. “Look, kiddo, I know this is a little hard to believe, but we all three promise we won’t hurt you. We won’t lay a finger on you at all. We’ve had a lot of people come and try to live here. And some have left because of us just being here and confronting them. But most have left because of what we are.”

Virgil blinked a few times, squishing his body as close to the wall behind him as possible. “What you are? What the hell do you mean by that? What do you even mean by roommates?” He swallowed thickly. He just needed to breath. If he was thrown into a anxiety attack right here right now, he would be an even easier target to whatever these people wanted from him. 

“We aren’t exactly human, to put it bluntly,” the third of the two spoke, “Since this is going far too slow, I’m just going to come out and say it. I’m a Mage, Teach over here is a vampire, and Pat over there is a werewolf. We are far from normal, but we are still fabulous and deserve to be just as respected as you, uh, humans would respect each other. Now, are you going to live with us in peace or will you go?”

Silence filled the room for all about two seconds before it was broken by Virgil’s barking laughter. A mage, a vampire, and a werewolf? What a great prank! Ah, what a great joke! Ha ha ha. Give him all of this crap and about through him into hysterics. Great, just peachy. “Are you fucking kidding me?! Great prank assholes, thanks for breaking into my house just so you could mess with my head, only to tell me you three are some magical and supernatural beings. God, what a joke!” Virgil laughed humorlessly, his eyes glaring at each one. His body was still shaking however, even after he was told the truth. 

Mr. Buff Man glared back at him dangerously, and Virgil could feel himself shrink away, but he still held his gaze. He stole a glance to the serious guy, who just looked almost... tired. Just tired and frustrated. And the Dad guy? He looked upset. And god, why did that sad little pouty face break his heart? “If you’re who you say you are, then show me. Show me right here, right now your little powers you three have.” The quivering male challenged. He was in know shape for challenging anyone at the moment, but he couldn’t stop his vocal cords from speaking what he was thinking. 

The Dad looked at the other two worriedly, sighed, then gently stepped a little more to the side, hands clasped in front of him. “Suit yourself. Logan?” The man who had confessed that they weren’t human turned to look at the man now known as ‘Logan’, who gave him a nod. 

The man with the tie looked back at Virgil and he noticed, to his surprise, that his eyes were now a shining red. They weren’t blue anymore, they were blood red, and they seemed to glow as he stared at him. 

‘Logan’ hissed, causing him to bare his teeth and show off two long fangs. They were sharp and menacing. The vampires’ fangs in the movie Twilight were nothing compared to this man’s. Was he even a man? No, no it wasn’t possible. Virgil’s breath started coming out quicker and more shallow. 

The other more built man was smirking at him now, his hand held out a little in front of him, his palm turned up towards the ceiling. A fire bloomed furiously on top of his hand, not touching the skin, but floating about an inch above it. His fingers slowly moved, causing the ball to slowly turn and rotate, around and around. The flame flickered and shown in those almost hypnotic green orbs, Virgil’s throat closing and opening rapidly. 

Virgil wasn’t one to faint, but right now, that’s what Virgil felt exactly. Like his consciousness kept slowly slipping from him. 

It was just all too overwhelming. Three men broke into his house, told him they were these supernatural things, and they were telling the truth?! “What the fu...” was all Virgil could say as he quickly grew light headed and, without much warning, fell to his side, causing his head to dully bonk against his bed frame. He heard a voice in his head whisper, almost amusingly, “Lights out,” before everything went black.


	3. Weirdos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, quick notes. I didn’t know exactly how to end the chapter, so if it’s a little bad, I apologize. Also, I’m kinda contemplating putting this on my tumblr (@.majestic-singing) but I’m not really popular on that site and it’s not really popular right now so?? I don’t know, I also don’t really know how to work tumblr right now, so it might turn into more of a chore than anything. So, put your thoughts on this if you want as well as the story? I don’t know, this was supposed to be short and than I started rambling oN TO THE STORY

After the dull thud of Virgil’s head coming in contact with the bed frame, Patton made a noise that sounded close to a scream. Not quite a scream, but it was close to it. He charged forward, immediately checking on the now unconscious male. “Oh no, his poor little head! Oh dear, what if he’s bleeding? I don’t see blood but that doesn’t mean he isn’t bleeding! Gosh, we really need to work on how we introduce ourselves to-“

“Patton, he is not bleeding. I assure you.” Logan spoke reassuringly. His eyes were back to their blue color and the fangs were no longer visible. Roman’s fire had also died out from his hand. 

Patton shakily nodded, taking slow and deep breathes to try and calm himself. He knew that Logan was one hundred percent right. Being a vampire did have its few perks. 

“Do you want some help-“ Roman started as the other started gathering the emo into his arms, but immediately shut up when Patton picked the male up as if he was as light as a feather. Either the dude was really light or Roman truly underestimated Patton’s strength. 

Patton turned around, his lips, which were usually always turned up, were now turned down into a frown. “Alright, Logan I want you to go down and grab that really big and fluffy blanket from my room. It should be on my bed.” Logan gave a short nod, turning and exiting silently. “And Roman, I want you to get him an ice pack from the freezer. He may not be bleeding but he’s gonna have one gnarly goose egg.”

Roman nodded gently. “Alright, Padre. I’m guessing you’ll be taking him downstairs to the living room?”

Patton gave him a silent nod- which honestly unnerved Roman ever so slightly- and ushered the mage to leave out the room first. As they were exiting, Patton added, “Once he wakes up and calms him down if he starts to panic, I want you and Logan to apologize. You two really gave him a fright.”

Roman didn’t even have to look at Patton and could just see his disappointment written all over his face. It was pretty much crystal clear in his voice. However, that didn’t stop Roman from huffing and crossing his arms over his chest. “Well he was asking for it. He pretty much challenged-“

“Roman.”

“...but-“

“Roman.”

Roman finally cracked. “...alright, alright, we’ll apologize. Got it.” Seeing those big brown eyes look so disappointed was not ideal at the moment. He would rather have a tango with the devil himself and be tortured for eternity than be met with Patton’s disappointed facial expression. 

Roman relaxed slightly when he heard a grateful “thank you” from behind him. 

When they both arrived in the living room, Logan was already there, a huge pastel pink blanket that’s fluffier than any realistic cat lay folded in his arms neatly. Or fluffier than any realistic adorable animal period. “I saw two fluffy blankets on your bed, but I calculated that you wanted the extra fluffy blanket for maximum comfort.”

Roman had walked off to grab the ice pack and from the kitchen, he called, “I thought we all discussed we were going to call that blanket Mega Fluff.”

“No,” Logan disagreed, “You and Patton discussed and agreed to call the material that. I did not agree. It is only a blanket after all. It is not a sentimental object, like Mrs. Fluffybottom, even though I still find it preposterous to name a plush toy-“

“Don’t you dare bring Mrs. Fluffybottom into this, dude!”

“Okay, okay,” Patton shushed the two. “Thank you for grabbing the blanket for me, Lo.” He approached the couch and softly laid the brown haired man down. 

Patton turned and gently grabbed the fluff from Logan’s arms and swiftly laid the blanket on top of the other just as Roman had came back with an ice pack. It was covered in a thin blue towel. 

“Thank you, Ro,” He said, gently grabbing the pack from him. He reached forward and with tender fingers, moved a bit of the hair back. A knot had already formed on the left side of the man’s head, and it was quite the size. It wasn’t enormous, but it wasn’t tiny either. 

Patton gently slid the cold pack onto the arm of the couch and laid the other’s head gently on top of it, making sure it was on the bump. “Will that be okay till he’s awake?” The fatherlike figure of their little group asked, looking over at Logan. 

The vampire hummed softly. “Yes, I believe it will. It might have been uncomfortable if he was awake and lying on it, but he should be fine for now since he is unconscious. Then he can hold it himself.”

Patton nodded, sighing softly as he glanced at the male on the couch, then shuffled his way to one of the chairs in the room and plopped down. The frown made another appearance on his lips. 

“Pat wants us to apologize to him.” Roman informed Logan after a few seconds of silence. 

“Understandable.” Was all Logan uttered. 

Silence. Roman and Logan found a spot to sit and they quietly waited for the emo to wake up. The silence doesn’t last long as it was broken by a quiet sniffle. “Patton-“

“I j-just want to have at least one human living with us.” Patton choked out, his body quivering slightly, hands balled up tightly and shoved into his lap. 

Logan stiffened. Feelings. Icky feelings. He could deal with happy feelings, there was no crying involved usually. But this... he didn’t know how to deal or help with someone that was crying. Luckily, Roman seemed to know exactly what to do. 

“Patton, even though we did give him, ahem, quite a fright, it doesn’t mean he won’t live with us still. I’m sure once we explain to him more about us and show we aren’t a threat, that he’ll give living with us a shot.” Roman reassured. It didn’t seem to help too much as Patton brought his knees up to his chest, hugging them tightly as if he was a hugging a well loved stuffed bear. 

“I can’t stand another rejection. I can’t stand... someone else being afraid of us, afraid of me. So many people have been afraid of me. I’ve hurt-“ Patton stopped as he hiccuped softly. “I’ve hurt s-so many p-people. I’ve k-k-k-“ He can’t get the word out. It’s stuck in his throat, refusing to be set out into the world and to hit hearing ears. And maybe that’s a good thing. For it to be unheard. 

Roman’s over in a flash, gathering the male up into his arms tightly. And the dam breaks. Everything just comes pouring out and there’s no way to stop it other than to ride it out. Hold on tightly to any debris and don’t let go, don’t be swept away. 

And as Roman started to whisper soothing things, trying to lighten up the male’s mood and calm him down, Logan slowly approached towards the two. Awkwardly, he rested his hand down on Patton’s shoulder, giving it a hesitant but reassuring squeeze. “We all know you mean well, Patton. Roman and I know it is difficult to control your instincts when it is that time. I can reassure you that the man on the couch is far more scared of Roman and me than he is of you.”

Roman nodded in agreement. “Yeah! And I’m pretty sure he actually finds you comforting in a way, Patton. Who wouldn’t? Your a ball of actual sunshine and tell the best dad jokes and puns-“

“Don’t you mean horrendous puns and dad jokes?”

“Not now, Specs.” However, Logan’s quip caused the crying male to half laugh and half sob. 

“W-We know y-you l-love th-them, Lo.” Patton choked out, digging his fingers into Roman’s shirt and balling the fabric up in his fists. It was only for a few seconds before he forced himself to let go of the shirt, willing himself to relax and calm down. 

The three are so invested on each other at the moment, that they don’t notice when the once unconscious man on the couch is slowly starting to grow conscious again. He’s confused at first, because there’s a dull throb on the side of his head and a huge fluffy blanket on him. His visions blurry but he can hear soft sniffles and little giggles ever now and then, voices talking light and playful. Jokes and soft teases leaving their mouths to comfort their companion. 

It’s only after the man’s vision blurs does he realize it’s those... not human creatures, talking and comforting. 

Roman and Logan are only focused on Patton at the moment, who is slowly but surely calming down. They don’t notice the male whatsoever, and temporarily, he’s gone from their minds. 

Well, that is until there’s a soft noise of something falling, a not so soft and quiet curse, and the quick scuffling of someone moving at a fast speed. 

——————-

Of course, Virgil just had to move the wrong way and stretch his arm to far up and nearly breaks a lamp. Luckily, he was pretty quick to grab it, so it didn’t plummet to its crashing end. However, something else did drop that was under his head? Was that an ice pack?

“Y-You’re awake!” Virgil heard a voice exclaim, cracking a little on the first word. His head shot in the direction of the voice, causing his head to momentarily spin and grow dizzy. 

It was that Dad guy. 

Even though he had a smile that could probably blind anyone, Virgil could see the complete guilt and sorrow in his eyes. His cheeks were red and blotchy, eyes bloodshot. 

Had he been crying? Why had he been crying? What happened while he was knocked out? Was he the cause of him crying? Oh god, will the other two kill him now because of it? Well, if he’s going to die today, he only wished to listen to My Chemical Romance one more time an-

“Breath.” A voice came close by, and the lamp in his hands was slowly moved up in the right position. Virgil let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding, then gasped, realizing it was the tie vampire guy, and pulled back quickly. He would’ve shot to the other end of the couch, but just sitting up quickly caused his vision to swim. 

“Please sit. We are of no harm to you. Right now, you are the one conflicting harm to yourself with how fast you are moving around.” The vampire spoke again, this time closer to the other two, who were watching him intently. Or well, the man with the cardigan was watching him intently while the mage dude was watching him more suspiciously, as if he’ll jump out and try to stab one of them. 

“Wait... wait? So you aren’t... like, going to try and... and suck my blood out?” Virgil asked cautiously, barely able to hold the gaze of such a serious and monotone man- er, vampire?

Though he grew really surprised when that serious mask was broken to show a look of disgust. “No. Human blood is far too rich and sweet for my liking. Just imagine eating a slice of cake or cookies-“

“I like cookies!” The so called werewolf cut in, seeming to be feeling a little better. 

“Yes, you do. But imagine those baked treats and times their sweetness and richness by about twenty. I usually just have the blood from a raw steak or a small animal outside. I have to keep that outside though, it upsets Patton.” He added the last part in more a hushed tone to Virgil. It wasn’t quiet enough however, because “Patton” replied with a “your darn right! And I don’t want to hear it either!”

Virgil stared, jaw dropped. What was even going on? A vampire that didn’t like to drink human blood? That made no sense!

Well, then again, the only vampires he had ever seen where on the big screen, which was fictional and didn’t mean it could fit, well, a real world vampire. 

“He had to drink out of me one time because this stupid nerd was too engrossed in whatever work he was doing and starved himself.” The mage butted in, sending a look towards the vampire. 

The man rolled his eyes, and Virgil was expecting to see a blush, like a true red blush, but instead, the vampire’s cheeks turned a light grey. What the fuck? “Yes, and yours was not as rich and a bit tangy. Still, I wouldn’t have it everyday.”

“Oh, oh!” The cardigan man started, “remember the time when-“

“Why are your cheeks grey?” Virgil slapped a hand over his mouth. Alright, this is when he’s going to die. Yep, right here right now. Good by cruel world, it was nice-

“Pardon?” The vampire asked, looking quite confused. The grey was gone now, but Virgil new he couldn’t be imagining it. 

Virgil was hesitant to answer, but eventually did. “Your cheeks? They were like... grey instead of red?”

Mr. Buff Man spoke again when he saw the nerd still looking confused. “He means your blush, Microsoft Turd.”

Realization hit the man, though it was wiped quickly when he shot the other a glare. “Oh, yes. My blood is not like yours, color wise. Yours is a deep red, while mine is a black. My blood will rise to my cheeks just like yours will, it will just turn mine a grey or black, depending on how dark it is.”

Black blood? Huh. Wish Virgil could’ve had that. Be even more of an emo. That’d be sweet. 

Silence filled the room after the man’s description. No one really knew what to say next. 

Surprisingly, Virgil felt mostly... comfortable. Apart from the magician, they all seemed, well, harmless. Well, maybe not harmless, but they did seem like they had no intention of harming him. Maybe they weren’t that bad. 

“Well, why don’t we introduce ourselves now!” Patton suggested. “I can start. My name is Patton Love!” 

Patton Love? Wow. That last name actually fit him well. Like, seriously. 

Next, it was the mage. And god did he do it over dramatically. So many huge hand movements and he even posed. Dear god. “And I am Roman Prince! Fighter of dragons, and a woo with the gentlemen and ladies.” Virgil’s gonna throw up. 

That left the high school teacher look alike to speak. “I am Logan Cullen.”

“Wait a minute-“ Virgil said, trying to keep his cool. “Did you just say Logan Cullen?”

Logan nodded. 

Virgil smirked slightly, feeling some confidence. “What’s your middle name, Edward?” He snickered. 

“Yes, it is.”

Okay, this has to be a joke. No one can have their full name be that. “Are you shitting me?”

“Language.” Came a soft reply from Patton. 

Logan shook his head. “No, I am not ‘shitting’ you. I am being perfectly serious. Clearly, I wear a necktie.” 

Oh god, this dude is serious. Completely and utterly serious. Virgil’s about to bust a gut, he can feel it. 

“He is actually being serious, Emo Nightmare. I still need him to watch Twilight so he understands.” Roman rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“I have already watched the twilight many times. I do not think it will tell me why you two thought I wasn’t telling the truth about my name.”

“Oh my god!” Virgil exclaimed, quickly covering his mouth with his sleeve as he shook with very quiet snickers and chuckles. These supernatural beings weren’t scary at all! It was like a weird dysfunctional family. A very weird, dysfunctional family. 

But a family nonetheless. A family, that for some very strange reason, wanted a human to live with them. And that human, for another reason he couldn’t understand, was him. 

Patton’s giggling as well, probably for a different reason, and Roman’s trying to keep a straight face. “You people are frickin’ weirdos!” Virgil doesn’t notice the three stiffen from his words. He calmed himself down enough to say next, “I’m Virgil Sanders. And at least I know I’m not the weirdest living being in this messed up world.”


	4. Wholesome Hugs

As things calmed down, a surprisingly comfortable silence filled the room. Logan seemed to be less serious, if that was even possible, Patton was just all smiles, and Roman didn’t seem as suspicious as before. 

Virgil let out a slow breath, feeling just... content. These supernatural beings, after talking with them a little, weren’t that bad. He felt calmer with these three monsters he met only a few hours ago than he did with his family who he had known for his entire life. 

“Virgil,” the soft and happy voice of Patton called to him, causing him to look up and meet soft and gooey chocolate brown eyes. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Go for it.” Virgil answered after a small shrug. 

Patton bit down on his lip softly, and that’s when Virgil noticed that he seemed a little nervous. However, before he could ask his question, Logan politely cut him off. “Patton, are you sure you want to ask him that now? We gave him quite a bit information now, we should let that at least sink in before we ask.”

“But we have to ask sometime!” Patton argued, “I don’t want to overwhelm him either, but it’s a very important question. He doesn’t even need to answer now! He can answer whenever he wants.”

“Yes, but-“

“You guys aren’t very organized with this kind of thing, are you?” Virgil butted in, resting his head on his fist. He got the ice pack back and now had it gingerly held against the bump.

Logan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Well, I always make up a well put together plan, but it never is followed because Roman says, ‘No prince should follow someone else’s plans and be ordered around’ and Patton just gets far too excited to remember to follow it.”

Roman frowned, squinting at the vampire. “Excuse me, Nerd, but I believe you’re leaving yourself out on this one.”

“Oh? Am I now?”

“Yeah,” Roman responded. “Your plans are always to formal. There’s no emotion put into it. I can’t follow it like a script if all you’re supposed to do is drone on and on and on-“

“You know very well I am not the best when it comes to emotions. I always let you and Patton have a bit of free space to ‘spice it up’, you know that.”

“But that’s the reason why! We would have to completely change your plans and throw them out if we added anything!” Roman huffed. 

“No, you would not. You could still add to it and stay organized, but you of course do not know the definition of organization.”

“I beg your pardon!”

Oh boy. Virgil wasn’t expecting an argument to go down over contemplating if they should ask him a question or not. Honestly, it was a bit stupid. Virgil automatically cringed when Roman’s voice grew a bit louder in volume, which soon was bringing Logan’s voice louder. And poor Patton was just trying to get them both to calm down and stop fighting. 

Just as Roman was about to say some kind of creative insult, Virgil quickly called, “Pump the brakes, Roman!” Technically, it was the both of them, but Roman was the one about to speak next so...

Roman spluttered, eyes widening to the size of dinner bowls as he reeled around to face the one who told ROMAN PRINCE to pump the brakes. “Oh, so you tell me to pump the brakes but you don’t tell the living Encyclopedia over here to pump the brakes! That makes perfect sense!” 

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Yes, because right now you are the one being overly dramatic over this whole situation.” He stated so calmly with that stupid smug look, it made Roman’s blood boil. “It’s not completely your fault, sure, but your definitely a big part of why this stupid argument started in the first place. Take a breather and pump the frickin’ breaks.”

Before Roman could even open his mouth to respond back, Logan cut in, glaring daggers at the mage. “I don’t know what Virgil is talking about ‘pumping the breaks’, as you are not in a car, but I do disagree slightly with it only being mostly your fault. It was completely your fault-“

“I WILL SET YOU ABLAZE YOU WET RAT-“

“ENOUGH!!” Virgil instinctively covered his ears with his hands from Patton’s loud yell, causing the ice pack to drop down to the floor again. Yelling, he hated yelling. 

Roman and Logan had fallen completely silent as they stared at Patton in surprise.

“Roman, go sit over there!” Patton pointed to a chair that was near the couch. “And Logan, you go sit over there!” He pointed to another chair that was all the way on the other side of the room. Roman and Logan did so wordlessly, knowing very well not to disobey Patton when he’s used what they call his Dad Voice. 

Patton honestly doesn’t like to use his Dad Voice, but right now he needed to. It was obvious the other two would’ve continued (and he wouldn’t be surprised if Roman did act like he was going to set Logan on fire, because Patton knew he wouldn’t truly do that, hopefully) and it wouldn’t have stopped unless he used that voice. 

Once the two were in their chairs, not looking at each other, luckily avoiding the sight of each other, Patton turned to Virgil.  
He frowned once he saw the man with his hands clamped tightly over his ears, curled a little bit under the very fluffy pastel pink blanket. He was breathing slow and steady, if not with a little bit of shakiness. 

Patton’s heart picked up a few beats. Did he scare Virgil? “Virgil, what’s wrong? Did I scare you?” Patton asked softly. 

At first Patton didn’t think Virgil heard him, but he must have as Virgil picked his head up. His dark brown eyes moved around the room, checking the room to see if it was clear, before slowly pulling his hands away from his ears. 

Then his eyes connected with Patton’s. “A little...” He spoke, but when he saw the other’s facial expression just crumble he quickly added, “b-but it wasn’t just you! I just... I’m not great when it comes to yelling. It... it, uh, scares me.”

It was too late, Patton was already in tears. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you! I just thought it was the only way for the other two to stop fighting!” Virgil gives a tentative smile, trying to reassure Patton, giving a quiet “it’s all good, you didn’t know,” but Patton’s arms are outstretched towards him, lip trembling. 

“C-Can I just give you a hug? You can say no if you want, I just- I won’t hurt you, I promise. I just want to hug you, because I really am sorry, and I always give people hugs when I’m sorry, b-but only if they say it’s okay, because I don’t want to make them uncomfortable, and-“

“...Okay.” Virgil said softly, causing Patton to pause his rambling. “You can hug me. It’s fine.” Virgil wasn’t one for strangers touching him so closely. He could deal with accidentally touches, like maybe someone brushing against him or bumping into his shoulder, but hugs from almost completely strangers? No thank you. But Virgil was too exhausted to find out what would happen if he said no, plus it couldn’t really be that bad, right?

And those were the magic words for Patton to waddle forward and just wrap Virgil into this big warm hug. The hug wasn’t bone crushing, but it wasn’t so light he couldn’t feel it. The hug was snug and actually comfortable. Virgil’s nostrils were immediately filled with cookie dough and the faint smell of dog. 

Virgil relaxed slowly and brought his arms up to wrap gently around Patton’s waist. The only time Virgil felt comfortable with someone hugging him was with his brother, Thomas. But Patton... he felt comfortable with him as well. It was just so warm and gentle, but snug and seemed to whisper “I’m here, I’ll always be here, everything is okay, you’re fine”.

Virgil felt safe. 

Virgil felt truly safe in this man’s arms who he only met him a few hours ago, truly introduced to him probably a half an hour to an hour ago. 

Virgil felt safe, and it brought tears to his eyes. Why? He honestly didn’t have a clue, but that didn’t really matter. 

A tear slowly fell, no matter how hard he tried to keep it in, and he sniffled quietly. 

Patton took this the wrong way- maybe he was too overwhelmed but didn’t want to say anything because it was making Patton feel better- but once he started pulling away, Virgil tightened his grip slightly, balling the blue polo shirt in his fists. 

“N-No. Please don’t stop hugging me. I don’t... I don’t know why I’m crying. It’s just your hug is really, really nice.” And Virgil didn’t want to explain more. Luckily, he didn’t have to. Patton understood more than enough and only moved so he could sit down on the couch and bring the younger closer to him. 

Virgil immediately smooshed his face into Patton’s shoulder, the scent now even stronger than before. But Virgil loved it. He really truly did. 

It’s silent for awhile, only broken once or twice by Virgil’s sniffling, but no one’s complaining. Patton doesn’t seem to mind that Virgil’s now just burrowed completely into his chest, and he actually likes it. It showed that Virgil trusts him enough to let Patton hold him so close and that he even likes the hug. Maybe even finds comfort it in. It leaves Patton feeling so happy, so exotic. A human letting him hug them? Not scared of him, but finds comfort in him? Patton didn’t think it would ever come true. 

The comfortable silence is broken by someone clearing their throat. It’s Logan. “Virgil, I believe I owe you an apology.” He paused, listening for any objections or comments before continuing on, “I apologize for rising up a ridiculous argument and causing you to become stressed. I know it is not completely my fault, but it is partially. I also apologize to Patton for causing him to stress out as well, I know he doesn’t like when we fight.” 

Patton looked over Virgil’s shoulder, giving Logan a reassuring smile. “Thank you, Lo. I forgive you.”

Before Virgil can respond back, Logan is continuing again, “And Virgil...” he pauses, taking a deep breath, “I also apologize for scaring you to the point of unconsciousness when we first were face to face. I was already frustrated from a few people, but that does not excuse the fact that my actions were illogical and inappropriate. I could have handled it more maturely.”

Virgil realized that Logan seemed almost awkward during his apologies, but truly sincere. He turned his head a little to the side, his mouth now uncovered from Patton’s clothes so it didn’t sound muffled. “Don’t worry about it, Logan. I forgive you. It was my fault for challenging the three of you anyway.”

“Even though you did, I still could’ve handled it better.” Logan replied, but doesn’t say anything more. They both had forgiven each other. 

There’s a few seconds of silence, after Virgil’s moved his face back into Patton’s shoulder, before Patton added, “It’s also not completely your fault, Logan. All of us could’ve done better in that situation.”

It’s obvious Patton was talking about a certain someone who hadn’t said anything yet. “Roman, is there something you would like to say?” Patton knew he needed to gently press Roman to apologize. He knew why he needed to press, he just wish he didn’t have to do it. 

Roman made a noise close to a grunt, arms crossed over his chest. One beat. Two beats. Then a long dramatic sigh, followed by a string of mumbles. 

“I’m sorry, Ro, but we can’t hear you.” Patton softly informed. 

A huff. Another sigh. “I’m sorry, Virgil.”

“You’re sorry for what?” Patton questioned, still pushing. 

No huff this time. “I’m sorry for raising my voice and causing a stupid argument. And I’m sorry for frightening you in your room.”

Good enough, Patton supposed. 

“Thanks for trying, Roman. I forgive you, I guess. I can tell it was really hard for you.” Virgil replied, surprisingly with amusement. And well, for him it was amusing. Roman just sounded so childish and it was even more childish Patton had to force him to say sorry. Whatever, it didn’t really bother Virgil that much anyway. 

Roman made noises of protest, but Logan quietly shushed him from across the room. 

Virgil pulled back from Patton gently with reluctance. He was met with a bright smile on the other’s face, causing him to smile back at the werewolf. Then Virgil smirked, causing Patton to look confused. “I think Logan and Roman forgot to apologize to someone else.” He muttered softly. 

Patton’s eyes widened, then a grin spread across his face, causing the corners of his eyes to crinkle. “You’re correct, kiddo!” He then looked at his two best friends, who looked just as confused as Patton was a second ago. “Guys, you’re both forgetting to apologize to someone.”

Roman’s eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t really think so, Patton. We already said sorry to Chris Angel over here.”

Logan’s eyes were at his lap, darting back and forth quickly in thought. Then, like a light bulb turning on, his head shot up. “We haven’t apologized to each other.”

Groaning, Roman crossed his arms over his chest again. “Fine, fine. I’m sorry Logan for-“

“No, no, no.” Patton cut Roman off, shaking his head. “You both have to stand and face each other. You can’t be across the room and apologize.” Virgil snickered as Roman rolled his eyes and Logan blinked slowly, letting out a steady breath. 

They both obeyed however and stood, walking up to each other. “They always have such a hard time apologizing to each other because they both hate admitting they made a mistake or they were wrong. I find it funny sometimes.” Patton whispered to Virgil, a bubbly giggle slipping past his lips. 

“You’re having too much fun with this, Patton!” Roman whined as he came face to face with Logan. 

“Can we just get this over with, please?” Logan sighed, adjusting his glasses slightly. 

“Fine. I’m sorry Logan for arguing with you over something stupid.” Roman grumbled, his vibrant green orbs meeting Logan’s blue one’s. 

Logan gave a short nod, jaw slightly clenched. “I forgive you. And I am sorry for continuing with the argument and saying you don’t know what organization is.”

“I forgive you.” The mage quickly replied then turned to look at Patton, pouting like a child. “Alright, we forgave each other, can I go watch Disney now?” Another snicker from Virgil. “Shut up, Hot Topic.”

“Aw, you think I’m hot.” Virgil replied with a smug smirk. Roman’s face made his own comment even better. Virgil covered his hand behind his sleeve, chuckling behind it quietly. 

“Nope! You two aren’t finished yet!” There’s a sparkle in Patton’s eyes. A mischievous kind of sparkle. “To show that you two truly are sorry and forgive each other, you two must hug!”

Someone might use their control over people to cause mass destruction of other countries, bringing them joy of how much power they truly have. Someone might use their control over people to manipulate them to do their biddings. Patton used his control to make his friends’ hug out over an argument and be affection and nice to each other. 

“No way! No, no, no way-” 

“I will do no such thing! I am not going to hug Roman, we both have agreed that we forgive each other. We do not need to hug to show that we truly mean it!”

The two were totally against the idea, but Patton was all smiles and grins. This was going to happen. He just knew it was. 

Virgil was sunk down in his hoodie, keeping his chuckles quiet as he leaned against Patton, watching everything going down. 

That’s when Patton pulled out his most lethal weapon. His eyes grew big and wide, drooping a little in innocent sadness. The corners of his lips pulled down, his bottom lip popping out in a childish, adorable, but still somehow heartbreakingly sad pout. “Please? You guys always fight and never hug. Come on, it won’t be that bad.”

When the other two didn’t reply, but also didn’t make any sounds as to not fall victim of the cruel Puppy Dog Eyes, Patton’s bottom lip started to tremble and his big brown eyes grow even wider. “Please? For me?” 

Roman’s the first to break. “Ugh, you and that, heartbreaking puppy look, it’ll be the death of us all!” The mage exclaimed dramatically, spinning on his heel to face Logan. 

It takes a few seconds longer for Logan to break, but he eventually does, sighing in defeat. “Very well. As long as you stop with that sad look. The emotions I feel when I see that expression confuse me horribly.”

Patton let’s out a happy squeal, the crippling sadness now faced with eye blinding happiness. “Yay! Okay, go for it! Whenever you’re ready!”

Actually, Roman and Logan had never hugged each other. Unless you count the times when Patton called for a group hug, then they had never embraced just each other. No Patton or anyone else. 

Maybe that was Patton’s whole plan all along. To get the two to finally just hug each other. 

Neither Roman nor Logan knew if that was Patton’s intentions, but right now it didn’t matter too much. What mattered was that they needed to hug, because Patton wouldn’t let them be till they did. 

After a bit of just awkwardly standing there, Roman decided to just go for it. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Logan, bringing him close. 

Logan stiffened, eyes growing wide as arms clasped around him and he comes squishing into Roman’s chest. He doesn’t know how long he stood there, too shocked to move, but it had to have been awhile since Roman said impatiently, “Hurry up, Specs. You need to hug back so we can finish this.”

It takes a moment, and Logan isn’t quite sure what to do, but he reminds himself of how Patton usually hugged him or what arm positions Patton usually did to hug someone, and stiffly reached up and wrapped his arms around Roman’s middle, giving it a small and tentative squeeze. 

Alright, that’s good enough for the both of them.

They both pull away at the same time, Roman’s arms crossing over his chest quickly as Logan’s go quickly to his sides. They’re both lightly blushing. 

“Aww, that was so cute!” Patton squealed, his hands coming up close to his face as he bounced gently in his seat. 

Virgil is smirking smugly at the two. “That was pretty gay. I gotta say it was cute enough to make me want to throw up.”

Roman is blushing madly now, whining loudly, “Shut up!”

Logan spluttered, trying to keep his serious nature intact. It wasn’t working, obviously. 

Eventually, the excitement simmered down and the embarrassment had either gone away or was well hidden. 

The first to yawn was Patton, which eventually brought the other three to yawn as well. “I believe it is time that we all retire to our rooms and get some sleep. It is late.” Logan stated after trying to suppress his yawn and failing. 

Today had been quite tiring for the four, so no one really complained and instead nodded in agreement.

Everyone bid each other a good night before going to their rooms. Virgil did see as the three supernatural beings made their way to a door that he thought was just a broom closet, but once opened showed a hatch that had a handle on top. Roman pulled it open, and climbed down the ladder, followed by Logan than Patton.

Patton gave a small smile, and a soft “goodnight kiddo” before closing the hatch. Virgil blinked a few times, but eventually realized that he was far too tired to start questioning now, and decided to ask tomorrow. 

Virgil climbed up the stairs to his own room, not even realizing that he still had Mega Fluff draped over his shoulders. 

Virgil didn’t notice that he had the blanket till he had already changed and tucked himself into bed. 

And at the point, he couldn’t care less and fell asleep soundly with the blanket wrapped tightly around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s probably some spelling mistakes I missed or sentences that don’t sound quite right but my patience was running thin and I really wanted to get this chapter out :’)


	5. Oh Sweet Pattoncakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy, I’m back from the pits of hell to give you this chapter! It’s not my best, and I did rush it a slight bit, but it’s just because I’m really really excited for the next chapter (hint hint it’s when they go shopping) and I just wanted to finish this and get it over with. So, here ya go!

Virgil was awoken to the sound of chirping, twittering birds outside his window. He groaned and cursed to the winged beasts, turning over in his bed, trying to will himself to go back to sleep. It was far too early for him to be up right now. 

However, he knew the inevitable truth that after waking up that his body wouldn’t go back to sleep, no matter how hard he screwed his eyes shut. 

He huffed and sat up, catching a glimpse of his hair from the mirror in the corner. Virgil grimaced and immediately fixed his fringe and the back of his head. God, it looked like a rats nest. 

Hair now decent, the man reached over to check his phone on the nightstand to see the time. His eyes blew wide open when he saw it was a quarter past eight in the morning. He never woke up at that time!

Virgil would’ve easily just stayed in his nice and warm bed, but his stomach had other ideas. It growled at him fiercely, demanding to be fed food. Actual food too, not just small, thin bread circles from a box. 

Throwing the blankets off of his body, he threw his legs over the side of the bed and set his feet down on the ground. 

Crunch. 

Virgil picked his foot up quickly to see one of the Ritz crackers now half crushed on the floor, a few of his buddies scattered around the box that had fallen yesterday. 

He groaned again, and stood up, careful not to step where the snack treats were, and grabbed his sweatshirt from the desk chair he had thrown it on. 

That was about all he was going to do to get dressed. His pajamas, which consisted of dark sweatpants and a black shirt (surprise surprise), so it wasn’t like he was going to go down in boxer briefs and a tank top. 

He picked up as much of the crushed cracker and the other intact crackers before grabbing the box and shuffling out of his room. 

As Virgil drew closer and closer to the kitchen, he could hear very faint humming coming from behind the door. 

Humming? Was somebody already up right now? It was definitely possible, he didn’t know the other’s sleep schedules. 

Quietly, he approached the door to the kitchen and pushed it open slowly with his shoulder, peaking through the crack. 

Patton. It was Patton. 

The small smile that had found its way on his face was there for a second before it was gone and he pushed the door open the rest of the way, stepping in. 

Patton looked up from a clear bowl filled with a powder mixture, smiling cheerfully when he realized it was Virgil. “Good morning, kiddo! I didn’t think you would be up this early!”

“Morning, Patton,” Virgil greeted back. “I usually sleep all the way till the afternoon, but the damn birds outside decided to start chirping outside my window.”

“Oh thank goodness!” Virgil looked up in confusion. “I accidentally dropped one of my mixing bowls and I hoped it didn’t wake you or anyone else up.”

Virgil nodded, then shrugged, putting the crackers back in its place. His eyes grew wide when he saw the contents of the cupboard completely changed from when he had first opened them. No instant Mac N’ Cheese, no mashed potatoes. Actual food. 

Well, that other stuff was food, but at least this food you couldn’t just slip it in the microwave. “When did you go shopping? You couldn’t have woken up that early.”

Patton chuckled. “I didn’t go shopping, silly! That stuff that used to be there was only for a little cover up. We kept the actual food downstairs.”

“Oh.” Virgil softly replied. “That reminds me. Where the fuck-“

“Language.”

“Where the heck does that hatch go to?” Virgil corrected, closing the cupboard quietly. 

“That’s where our rooms are. Well, at least that’s where me and Roman’s rooms are.” Patton answered as he grabbed a whisk and started mixing the contents in the bowl, already having poured the wet ingredients in as they had talked. “Logan’s permanent bedroom is usually one of the ones upstairs. I hope it’s okay if he moves into the other one across the hall from yours.”

Sure, maybe if Virgil didn’t see the quirks of the smart vampire, he might have been more hesitant. But right now? Nah, he didn’t mind at all. “That’s fine with me. I don’t really mind.” He went over to one of the counters that wasn’t being used and jumped up, perching himself on top of it. “So, I have a few questions.”

“I’m sure you do.” The other chuckled, licking a bit of batter off his cheek that had splattered a little. 

“First off, what did you do with the food downstairs? Like, is there a kitchen down there or something?”

“It’s actually quite large, the space down there. The kitchen is definitely a lot smaller there, but it’s only temporary till we come out to the new person who’s moved it!” He answered. 

“That leads me to my next question. Why do you want a human living with you? I mean, why not just have another supernatural being thing live with you?”

Virgil frowned once he saw Patton’s stirring stutter for a second and the smile on his face faltered slightly. Before he could go back and apologize, Patton was speaking, “That’s a bit of a long story, but I can keep it short.”

The man on the counter shook his head. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel comfortable-“

“No. No, you need to know.” Patton breathed, his smile now completely falling as he went back to his mixing. “You know I’m a werewolf, right? Well, when it’s the full moon, I turn into an actual, well, werewolf. And when I do, I don’t exactly have... control. Before I met and befriended Logan and Roman, I was with my pack. My family. I never liked it, I truly didn’t. I always thought it was so cruel, a-and I tried to stop, but it was so hard...” 

Virgil can see the little shine of tears in Patton’s eyes, but the other continues on, “I’ve... k-killed a lot of people, Virgil. And I vowed to myself that I would at least befriend one human in my life time. B-Bonus if I managed to get one as a roommate. Or, a housemate, I suppose.” 

Virgil watched Patton as he smiled wetly at him and reached up, pushing his glasses up slightly to rub at his eye. Virgil doesn’t speak, so Patton does. “Now you know my dark little secret. A-And- can I ask you a question?”

Virgil slowly nodded. He doesn’t really know what he’s feeling right now, but scared or disgusted is definitely not one of them, which would’ve made sense. But even Patton said he couldn’t control his werewolf instincts to... kill. 

“Um, this is the one I wanted to ask you yesterday. And just like yesterday, you don’t have to answer now, and you obviously can say no. Would... would you want to live with us?” Patton finally asked, nervously he might add. Virgil couldn’t really blame him to be honest. He would be a train wreck right now if he was in Patton’s shoes. 

Virgil didn’t even need to really think about the question. He already had made up his mind. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. You all seem pretty chill- well, except for maybe Roman. I don’t think he knows the definition of chill.”

Patton probably would’ve scolded him for that kind of comment if he wasn’t staring at Virgil with wide, tearful eyes, hands curled up and close to his mouth. He wasn’t mixing anymore. “R-Really?”

Virgil smiled, trying to reassure the other. “Yes, really.” The emo has never seen anyone get as happy as Patton was at this moment at what he had agreed to. The other looked like Virgil had just told him the most amazing thing in the world. 

“C-Can I hug you? Please?” Patton asked, not being able to contain his bouncing any longer. 

“‘Course Pat. I lov- like your-“ Virgil doesn’t even have time to finish his sentence before Patton’s engulfed him in a tight hug. He let’s out a very loud squeak when his butt leaves the surface of the counter for a second, causing him to cling much like a cat to Patton. 

There’s a soft chuckle and he’s set back down respectively. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get so excited.” Patton sniffled, wiping his eyes with the back of one of his cardigan sleeves. 

Shooting Virgil another big smile, Patton went back to the counter and finished mixing the batter, which didn’t take too much longer, and went to the stove to start cooking breakfast. There’s a bit of silence where no one speaks, but Pat eventually asked, “How many Pattoncakes do you want?”

Virgil looked up from his sleeve he had been messing with, eyebrow quirked. “Pattoncakes? Do you mean, pancakes?”

The werewolf nodded, grin hidden since his back was facing Virgil. “Yep! Pretty neat name I came up with, huh? Logan always tells me to call them pancakes, but I know he secretly likes it?” Virgil relaxed more as the soft giggles of Patton filled the room. What a dork. 

“Two’s fine if they’re filling.”

“Oh, yes. They’re very filling.” Patton twisted one of the knobs on the stove and a fire lit under a pan that had been set on the front right burner. As he waited for that to heat up, he turned around to face Virgil again. “Have anymore questions, kiddo?”

Virgil still had a lot honestly, but he was afraid of going in dangerous waters that could cause a waterfall of tears, so he goes with the least bit personal, he hoped. “What is Logan gonna eat? I mean, is he going to eat the Pattoncakes with us or something else?”

Patton contained his squeals as the other called the pancakes ‘Pattoncakes’ (cause really the only one who called them that was himself and Roman, if he wanted to annoy Logan). He shook his head. “Nope! He’s going to have a raw steak!”

Virgil’s eyebrows raised. “Raw steak? Yummy. Sounds like a good breakfast to me. Do you think I can have some of that raw meat too?”

Patton giggled, turning back around and grabbing the bowl full of batter. “He doesn’t eat the meat! He just drinks the blood from it. It’s a small amount, but it holds him off till dinner.” He poured some of the batter into the pan, letting it cook as he grabbed a spatula. “We could always give him a big amount in the morning so it holds him off for a few days, but then there would be no reason for him to sit with us during meals, at least that’s what he says.”

As Patton flipped the pancake, Virgil asked, “A little off topic, I guess, but are you the oldest?” That caused the other to start laughing. Quite hard actually. Virgil sunk into his sweatshirt just that little bit more, blood rushing to his cheeks. 

“Oh- oh no, kiddo! I’m far from the oldest!” Patton tapered off into giggles, trying to calm himself down enough to speak. “Logan’s the oldest, by far. He’s 228 years old!”

Oh. Oh that’s why he started laughing. “228? Man, he needs to tell me his secret to aging.”

“Who needs to tell you his secret to aging?” A voice behind Virgil asked, causing a yelp to escape and almost making him fall off the counter. 

“I apologize. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Virgil glanced over his shoulder to find the vampire staring at him with a blank expression, but he was sure he could see an amused sparkle in those striking blue eyes. 

“A damn warning would be nice next time.” Virgil mumbled as Logan walked a little more into the kitchen. 

Patton turned a little from the stove and grinned happily. “Good morning, Lo! I hope you slept good!” 

Logan breathes in slowly through his nose. “Patton, that’s wrong. It’s not I hope you slept good, it’s I hope you slept well.”

“Slept well? But I’m not a well! And I don’t think wells can sleep anyway, silly Logan!”

It takes a minute for Virgil to understand, but once he does, he softly snickered. Logan looked thoroughly done with the conversation. So, he turned away from Patton and faced Virgil, ignoring the “Aww, Lo!” from the werewolf. “Now, what were you talking about aging?”

Virgil smirked. “Patton told me you were 228 years old.”

“That is correct, yes.”

“So, I was wondering if you could tell me your secret. You don’t look a day over a hundred.”

Logan huffed out what Virge assumed was a laugh, but quickly went straight faced again. 

“Oh, so you laugh at Virgil’s jokes but not mine?” Patton whined softly, pouting. 

“You make puns and dad jokes! Those are insufferable!” The vampire exclaimed. He quickly composed himself after, straightening his tie. 

Patton giggled, not the least bit hurt by Logan’s small outburst. “I know you love them!”

“No, I do not love them. I said insufferable. Do you know what that even means?”

Before Patton could reply, Virgil cut in, “You two sound like an old married couple.”

Patton blushed and turned back to the stove, though he was giggling. Logan looked like his brain had short circuited for all about two seconds. Once he rebooted, he started spluttering. “Alright, take it easy there. I was only kidding around, no need to short circuit on me.”

After about five minutes of a comfortable silence, Patton shooed the two out of the room, something about almost being down with breakfast. So, Logan decided that right now would be the best time to show Virgil their small little dining room. 

It was close to the kitchen, their little dining room, and the table was small. Just big enough to fit four people, actually. 

As Logan started to go into an in depth description about which wood was best for making dinner tables out of, Virgil glanced across the table at a picture frame that was on the wall. 

It was the three of course. Patton, Logan, and Roman. They all looked happy together. They looked to be in some kind of amusement park? Wait- were those Mickey Mouse ears on Roman? And was Patton wearing a Goofy hat?

“Uh, sorry to interrupt you,” Virgil started, causing Logan to stop and gaze at the human, “but did you go to Disney World? Or Disney Land”

Logan followed Virgil’s stare. Once his eyes landed on the picture frame, an actual smile appeared on the pale face. It was small, but it was still there. “Yes, we did. It was for Roman’s birthday. Ever since we moved in together he always wished that one of his birthdays he would be able to go to Disney World or Disney Land. And we fulfilled that wish for him.”

Virgil glanced back to the picture and his brows furrowed when he saw something white peaking from his shirt collar. Was that a bandage? “Hey, what’s that white bandage looking thing under Roman’s shirt? What did he do, blast himself with his own magic?” 

Virgil was trying to be funny, but the silence that followed showed that maybe this wasn’t a funny and amusing moment. He turned to look at Logan, and noticed his lips were pursed. Shit, why did he say that? God, he’s so stu-

“All I will say is yes, that is a bandage and no, he did not wound himself. If you want to know what happened, I believe the best person to ask would be Roman himself.” Logan turned to look at the human, facial expression serious again. 

What? Why couldn’t he tell him? What could’ve possibly happened to Roman that caused this much seriousness and apparently injured him in the process?

Before Virgil could speak, Patton came walking in, his usually bounce in his step not there as he balanced two plates on his arms like a waiter, and held one plate in each hand. Logan looked thoroughly shook. “Alright, breakfast is ready! Everyone sit down!”

Virgil doesn’t ask twice about it- Patton could’ve been a waiter in the past, he didn’t know that- but Logan stayed near Patton’s side as he started setting the plates down in their spots. He didn’t want any to fall. 

“Two Pattoncakes for you!” Patton exclaimed to Virgil and smiled, earning a slow inhale of breath from Logan. Virgil quietly sat down with the other two. 

That’s when he noticed the syrup and butter was already on the table, as well as silverware and napkins. Hm, he could get used to this if Patton cooked every meal for them. 

“Why isn’t Roman up yet? Should I go check on him?” Patton asked Logan as he set the last plate of pancakes in an empty spot and, yes, a raw steak in the spot Logan was going to sit. 

Logan shook his head, sitting down silently. “There is no need to, Patton. I checked if he was awake before coming up. He was just starting his usual morning route, he should be up soon.”

Used to be concerned werewolf was now smiling in relief and giggling. “Ah, okay! He better come up soon or his food will be cold!”

All three started to eat, which gave Virgil time to see the huge stack of pancakes on Patton’s plate and how Logan actually eats. 

Logan, like he had done this a million times (which he has honestly), carefully slipped his wristwatch off and set it down next to his pure white napkin. Virgil watched as he grabbed the knife and fork and started sawing the meat in half. 

The human didn’t really know what to expect, but he was far from expecting the calm and put together vampire to grab one of the steak halves with his bare hands and just chop down on it like a savage beast. Well, maybe not quite like that, but it definitely looked like it. Maybe it was the frickin’ two inch long fangs and glowing red eyes that gave off that feeling as the other bit down on the raw meat. 

And Virgil expected quite sucking sounds, at the least, but Logan was completely silent as he sat there, meat in hand and mouth clamped down on his food. Still and unmoving. 

And Patton. Holy crap. There had to be at the very least seven pancakes stacked on top of each other. Virgil couldn’t even eat half of that if he wanted to. Virgil didn’t mean to stare, he really didn’t, but he did wonder if Patton would actually eat that all in one go. 

Patton didn’t get too far honestly, before he noticed Virgil staring and turned beet red. He covered his hand with his mouth as he quietly chewed, glancing away as he muttered, “I promise I don’t eat this much usually, it makes senses, I promise, I just-“

“The full moon is approaching.” When did Logan drop the steak? “We have concluded to help Patton’s instincts from attacking any animals or human beings, that he needs to eat a large amount of different foods, mostly what people would call ‘fatty’ foods. He burns off all calories during his transformation, during his time of being a full werewolf, and during his transformation of coming back to a human form.” 

Virgil blinked a few times at Logan, who by the way still had his fangs present and had a blood on the sides of his mouth, but that wasn’t really important. He turned to Patton, who still looked embarrassed and even a little uncomfortable. Because Virgil’s staring at him which must mean he thinks he looks gross and oh gosh he wasn’t ready for this, maybe he does look a little gross eating this much, oh dear-

“Hey, Patton, it’s okay. Shit, I didn’t mean to stare like that, please don’t cry. I’m sorry.” When did he even start tearing up? Oh goodness. “Patton, I know what you’re thinking, I can see it on your face. I’ve, uh, I’ve thought like that too before, but it’s not true. I didn’t think any different of you before Logan explained, it wasn’t my business before anyway. But I know now why and I understand a little bit more now, but that still doesn’t change my thoughts on you.” 

Patton sniffled softly, drying his eyes with his cardigan sleeves as he looked up at the human. Virgil looked uncertain, like he didn’t know if what he said would help, but Patton could tell he was being sincere. A small smile appeared on his face as he sniffled once again. “I-It’s okay, Virge. I should be the one that’s sorry, I overreacted.”

Virgil’s heart stopped for a second. Virge. Thomas used to always call him that. “Hey, Virge! How was school”, “Can I give you a hug, Virge”, and the one that really stuck, “I love you, Virge.” He didn’t let anyone else call him that, not even his own parents. Thomas loved him and he knew it, so Thomas could only say it. It felt wrong if someone else used it. 

But Patton, sweet and adorable Patton, it didn’t feel weird at all. It actually made his chest feel a sort of warmth inside. It made him feel relaxed and content. “You don’t need to be sorry about anything. That was your natural reaction, don’t apologize for it.”

Patton’s smile grew. He felt better honestly. Logan had been silently watching the two, knowing very well that it was best to stay silent. The two were having a bonding time and plus he was not the best when it came to emotions. He was most glad that Virgil managed to calm Patton down. He was completely hopeless when someone was crying.

The three went back to their food, a comfortable silence falling around them, which was quickly broken after about thirty seconds.

“Good morning, peasants!” A voice behind Virgil exclaimed, causing him to jump so hard his knees slammed against the underside of the table. It was so forceful that it caused it to move ever so slightly.

“Roman! What did we say about appearing at the table?” Patton scolded, frowning as he looked at Virgil. “Are you okay, kiddo?”

Virgil can hear Roman laughing behind him, making him sink a little more into his hoodie. He gave a nod, glaring at Roman as he took a seat next to him. “Roman say sorry to Virgil.”

Roman rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, Patton! It was just-“

“Now.”

The other huffed and he turned. “Fine, fine. I’m sorry for appearing behind you and scaring you Virgil. But you have to be real, that was pretty funny-“

Roman’s hand reached over, probably to ruffle Virgil’s hair or something, but right now he didn’t really care. Without thinking, he let out a harsh hiss at the hand coming towards him, causing it to stop and pull back. “Did... did you just hiss at me?” The mage asked in bewilderment. 

“I spit too, try me bitch.” Virgil growled, shoulders hitched up near his ears. He was glad Patton didn’t comment on his curse. 

After the shock wore off, Roman gasped dramatically and rested a hand against his rest. “How dare you! I am no bitch, I am a prince!”

“More like peasant.”

“Oh, that’s it! You take that back The Good, The Sad, and The Ugly or I swear-“

There both cut off by a snort. They both look towards the noise and find Logan with his bloodied hand covering his mouth, quietly laughing. Or at least it would’ve been quiet if he didn’t snort ever few seconds. 

It was definitely something different to see, especially coming from Logical Logan, but it was a bit funny honestly. 

“Alright, alright. Let’s all calm down and take a breather, no more fighting.” Patton tried to say firmly, but it was ruined from his own giggles. 

Logan was the first to calm down and only one to be embarrassed about letting his serious mask fall so easily. To try and keep some of his dignity left, he turned to Virgil, who was the calmest out of the other three. “Virgil, you have a vehicle of transportation, correct?”

Virgil nodded, hiding his smile behind his sweater paw. “Yeah, why do you ask?”

“It has come to my attention that we need to go to the store again. Since none of us have a car, let alone a drivers license, we were wondering- or at least I was wondering- if you could drive us to the grocery store.” Logan explained, keeping his face emotionless even though he was currently screaming on the inside. Could the other two stop giggling?

Virgil finally let his hand fall, letting his smirk be shown. “Alright. But you’re giving me gas money.”

It was just driving them to the store, plus he needed to get some more makeup. What could possibly go wrong?


	6. Supernatural Shenanigans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I’m finally back! I apologize for making you wait over a month for this chapter, but I think this might be the longest one? I’m not too sure, it’s long nonetheless. Thanks for all of the lovely comments and to anyone who has still stuck with this is when it isn’t updated that much ^_^
> 
> Warnings: Deceit because I know he makes some people uncomfortable (also he may be ooc, I’m still trying to get down how to write his personality)

Breakfast went pretty well after all of that, (except for the occasional teasing Roman gave Logan, and Virgil was sure Logan would’ve bit Roman’s head off if a certain werewolf wasn’t in the room), and they all eventually dispersed, both Virgil himself and Patton not ready yet to go outside in the open, since they were both still in their pjs. 

Virgil was pretty sure he was going to take a little bit longer than Patton, only because he applied makeup to his face. He knew Patton didn’t do that sort of thing, he didn’t need it. 

It takes him probably two minutes to get dressed and seven minutes to apply the makeup and do the other necessities. He decided that the best would probably just to do it in front of that mirror for now instead of going to the bathroom. 

So, nine minutes later, Virgil was ready and climbing down the stairs. 

The three supernatural beings were all standing at the front door as Roman rambled on about... Mulan? “Mulan’s grandmother was one of the greatest characters in a Disney film! You can’t tell me otherwise!”

Patton just giggled and nodded along in agreement while Logan stood there, his facial expression neutral but Virgil could tell he would rather not being listening to this right now. 

“Alright, let’s blow this popsicle stand.” Virgil cut in, walking over to the small group. 

Logan looked up and blinked a few times. “That is highly dangerous, blowing up a popsicle stand. Also, I don’t see any popsicle stands around. Why would we want to blow one up?”

“It’s- I’m not being serious, Logan. It’s an expression.”

“Oh... but why a popsicle stand?”

Virgil decided not to answer and nudged past everyone to open the door. “Let’s just get going.” He mumbled, walking outside and towards his car. 

“Is this your electric carriage?” Roman asked a few feet away from Virgil. 

“Electric... carriage?”

“Yes! You don’t have any horses pulling it, so it has to be electric.” Seeing as Virgil still didn’t quite understand, for some odd reason, the mage sped up so he could visibly gesture to the car. “You can’t hook any horses up to this. And it looks like everyone else’s electric carriage.”

Is he being serious right now? Is he really?

“I told you Roman. It is not an electric carriage. It is a car.” Logan corrected. 

“I want the backseat left side!” Patton exclaimed, running over to the car and grabbing a hold of the car door handle, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement. He loved car rides! 

That seemed to get everyone moving again and Logan took the liberty of taking the passenger seat while Roman took the backseat. Once the car was unlocked and everybody was inside, Virgil turned around in his seat to look at Roman. “Why the heck did you call my car an electric carriage?”

“Where I was born we had carriages that got us around.” Roman said. “They were always drawn by pure white horses, unless it was a funeral. Then they were black.”

“What place still uses carriages these days? Don’t tell me your as old as Logan.”

“Roman did not live exactly in a place that we would all know. He calls his land Wonderland, but I doubt that is the exact name.” Logan explained. 

Roman gave a nod. “Yes! Oh you should have met the fairies, they were so lovely! And the centaurs were true gentlemen.”

“Sounds like you were born in a mental institution.” The human mumbled as he stuck the key in the ignition. 

“Hey, you take that-“ Roman had no chance to continue as the car roared to life, causing him to yelp and shoot forward to cling to the back of Logan’s seat. 

Virgil couldn’t stop himself from busting out laughing. He leaned forward till his head was resting against the steering wheel, his body slightly shaking with laughter. 

“It’s not funny! You would’ve jumped ten times more if you were in my shoes, you angsty- uh, thing!”

Roman’s poor excuse of an insult only caused Virgil to laugh louder as Logan tried to declaw the royal from his seat. Eventually Patton swooped in to help, gently pulling the mage back so you could sit properly in his own seat and even reached over and buckled him in. What a dad. 

“What is this confining harness for?” Roman questioned as he stretched it a far bit away from his body. 

Virgil’s calmed down enough now to reply with, “It’s so when we get in a car crash you don’t become human chum. Or in your case mage chum.”

There’s a noise of disapproval from behind. “Now, Virgil-“

“Are you saying you trapped me in a death trap with this harness?! I’m getting the heck out!” He exclaimed and tried to unbuckle himself frantically. However, Patton stopped him in his tracks, resting his hands on top the other’s. 

“Hey, calm down, kiddo. Cars don’t crash that much, and I’m sure Virgil is a great driver! This,” He gently tapped the belt, “is a seat belt. It’s only there to keep you safe in case we do get in an accident. But it will be okay, I assure you. Trust me.”

The mage still looked unconvinced, but he slowly started relaxing, gently nodding his head. He trusted Patton, he really did. If Patton said he was going to be okay, then... then he was going to be okay. 

Patton smiled, gently lifting his hands from Roman’s. He was so distracted by the other that Roman didn’t even realize the car was already moving till he looked out the window to see the trees and other things blurring. 

Roman looked forward again, then glanced over at Virgil. He was quite a bit taking aback when he saw a facial expression that could possibly be a few things. 

What that guilt? Or was that an attempt at a smug scowl? Roman honestly had no clue, but he didn’t have to think about it for too much longer. 

“Hey, Virge! Can I roll down my window?” Patton chirped. 

The expression seemed to disappear completely and be replaced with confusion. “Uh, yeah sure. Go for it.” Patton giggled softly at that and grabbed the manual window crank, slowly rolling the window down. He didn’t stop till it was fully open. 

“Patton, please don’t-“ Logan started, but was cut off by another giggle from the excited werewolf. He didn’t have his glasses on anymore. He was too afraid that he might loose them so he gave them to Roman. 

Then, he stuck his head straight out the window. 

“What the hell?! Patton, get your head back inside the car!” Virgil cried out, hands tightening on the steering wheel. The man’s going to get decapitated by a passing car. 

“I’ll be fine! I do this all the time when I get in a car!” Virgil didn’t buy it. About ready to press on the breaks and pull over, a hand gently landed on his arm, causing him to flinch slightly. It was Logan. 

“He will be fine. Patton really does stick his head out the window every time he is in a vehicle. Which might I add isn’t very much.” Patton let out an ecstatic howl, his floofy hair pushing back from the wind. He was so happy! He loved this so much!

“You better not get your fucking head ripped off by a car or I’m beating the driver and sewing your head back on...” Virgil mumbled softly to himself, gripping the wheel even tighter and suppressing the urge to slow down. 

About two minutes away from the grocery store, Patton pulled his head back into the car, hair even more fluffed out and curly. “Gosh, I haven’t done that in so long! Thanks for holding my glasses for me, kiddo!” He chirped, gently grabbing them from Roman and slipped the glasses back onto his face. 

Virgil decided to just say nothing as he flicked on his left blinker and turned into the grocery store parking lot. After a few moments of driving around, he found a parking spot close to the front and changed the gear from drive to park. “Alright, we’re here kiddies.”

Patton cheered, Roman grumbled as he tried to unbuckle his seat belt, and Logan turned to Virgil to say, “Don’t every call me a ‘kiddy’ or I’ll be forced to kick you out of your own car.”

Everyone clambered out of the old car quietly, Patton chattering about the grocery list. “Patton, I already have the list written down.” Logan pointed out, holding up a small slip of paper. 

“Oh, there’s no need for that! I memorized it all!” To show the vampire he was actually telling the truth, he started to list off every item on the paper as he was gently nudged forward by Roman. 

Virgil watched silently from the back of the group, seeing Logan looked most bewildered as each item was correctly listed off. 

They were just all a bunch of dorks and felt like he needed to watch these three more than he would need to with other people. Momma Virgil is going to start showing. 

Patton slowly trailed off though, and even stopped walking all together. This caught the attention of the other three, looking at the werewolf curiously. “Patton?” Logan questioned. He seemed to be distracted by something. 

Before they could turn to see, Patton let out a loud squeal, bouncing excitedly. “Puppies!” And he was gone. He zoomed over to a dog walker that had a good five or six dogs she was walking. Right as Patton made a noise and started approaching quickly, all of the doggos went wild and practically dragged the poor woman in the direction of this strange man. 

“Shit...” Virgil heard Logan mumble and he glanced over to see him pinching the bridge of his nose. “We better get over there soon or he will never leave them.”

At this point, as they all now broke out into a jog, the dogs had literally tackled Patton to the ground, the woman trying desperately to pull them off. 

Patton wasn’t at all in distress. He was having the time of his life. They were all over him, either giving him sloppy kisses or blabbering and trying to converse with him. Of course, to other people, the dogs were just barking excitedly. But to Patton, no matter if he was full werewolf or not, he could always tell what any dog was talking about. 

“Look, look! I saw this man a few days ago on the street! The cookie man, the cookie man!” One Corgi chirped out happily. 

“Holy heckers! He does smell like cookies! Do you know you smell like cookies? Do you have cookies on you?” A German Shepherd panted excitedly, sniffing his cardigan. 

“lET ME GIVE YOU LOVE AND AFFECTION!” Another dog yelled, licking his face affectionately. Patton just giggled and laughed, giving off as much love and affection and energy as the other dogs. 

It honestly bewildered Virgil. He was pretty sure he had never seen a single man be so happy about dogs. He glanced over at the other two. Logan looked completely done (though he swore he could see the corner of his lip twitching, possibly up) and Roman was chuckling quietly behind his hand. Completely different reactions. 

“Please, get off the dude.” The woman mumbled weakly, as she gave the leashes a slight tug. At this point she wasn’t really trying. What had gotten into them?

Logan gave a glance to the human then spoke over Patton’s laughter and the dogs barking. “Come on, Patton. We have to go shopping and you’re clothes are going to be extremely hairy after this. Let’s go.”

Patton looked up from the ground, the dog still attacking his face. “But Lo-“ He stopped as the dog moved to lick his mouth and he quickly closed it. 

“Patton, please. I’ll bake cookies with you if you get up.” 

“Deal!” Logan’s eyes widened. He obviously didn’t think that through too much. “Okay, doggos! I gotta go little guys!” Patton said as he slowly started sitting up. 

The dogs all seemed to whine at the same time as they slowly shuffled off him, the Corgi still trying to cling on. Patton gently plucked him off himself and set him on the ground. “I’m sorry, but I have to go little friends!” 

The women watched in bewilderment as they all whined again, and the Corgi barked, sounding sad. The strange man gave all the dogs quick pets and goodbyes before standing. “Now, give your wonderful dog walker an easy walk, okay?” The canine’s seemed to understand and they all came waddling back to her. 

She looked back up and saw the man smiling at her. “I’m sorry. I- they’ve never acted like that before. They’re well-behaved, I swear.” 

The man just smiled wider. “Oh no, it’s alright! I’m a dog magnet honestly! This has happened before, and I really don’t mind. I love dogs!” The woman heard the darker clothed man mumble, “I wonder why,” sarcastically. 

Logan shot Virgil a look, before speaking to the human, “Yes, Patton is quite the dog magnet. We apologize for causing you any inconveniences.”

“You’re apologizing?” She questioned. “Seriously, I should be the one apologizing. I’m pretty sure I was the one that inconvenienced you.”

Roman spoke up. “Nonsense! We weren’t in a rush-“ That’s debatably, Logan thought to himself. “It is quite alright! No harm done except now Patton is about as hairy as the dogs themselves.” 

The woman chuckled at the charming and familiar man, giving a soft nod. “Yeah, they could easily mistake him as one now! I mean, it seems like they already did before he was even covered in their fur.” 

Logan saw the beginning of a conversation between these two. But not today, he is going to put a stop to that real quick. “I apologize, but we must get going. If we delay any longer we might hit the stores busy hours and I much rather get our needed items before then.”

“Oh, yes, of course.” She nodded softly. “I have to get these dogs back to their rightful homes anyone. It was nice to meet you four I suppose. A little funny way to meet, but still nice.” The woman looked at the Roman last, and her gaze seemed to pause. She squinted for a few seconds. Her eyes then grew wide and she grinned. “Nice to see you again, too, Roman.”

Then, leaving the werewolf, vampire, and human in confusion and the mage in bewilderment, she turned on her heel, and jogged back to the sidewalk she was previously walking on, the dogs following close behind again.

Logan turned on Roman. “How the hell does she know you?” He questioned after she was out of earshot.

“I don’t…” The mage trailed off, his face contorting into an expression of concentration. After a second, it was like a lightbulb flashed on. “Oh, I know her! Merlin’s beard, I haven’t seen her in years!”

Virgil raised an eyebrow as Roman didn’t seem to continue. “Well? You can’t just leave us on a cliffhanger like that.”

“Oh, yes! She was one of the fairies that I used to hang out a lot with back in my home kingdom. I suppose she decided to come out to the human world like me. That reminds me of a really funny thing that-“

Logan stopped him there. “Roman, we do not have time for your long and dramatic stories. We need to shop. You can tell us the story later.”

Roman huffed. “You always ruin the fun you party pooper.”

“Now, Roman,” Patton said, “Logan does have a point. We do have to shop. But you can tell us your wonderful story once we get back home!”

Roman eventually comes around, a little grumpy but comes around anyway. Logan ushered them all towards the sliding doors of the grocery store, Patton bouncing lightly as he grinned at the building. 

Virgil decided to take the liberty of grabbing the cart as they finally got inside. “Alright, depending on what-“

“We should go over to the jewelry and glitter section!” Roman cut in excitedly, his mood seeming to have changed quite fast. And by god, Virgil was pretty sure he had never seen someone get so happy over those two objects. 

Logan shook his head firmly however. “No, we will not be going over there first, or ever today. You are easily distracted by that section of the store and none of our essential items are even close to that area.”

“But-“

“We’re aren’t going over there, Roman. That’s final.”

“Fine! Then we can’t go to the isle with your smarty pant books!”

“Produce is first! Let’s go to produce!” Patton chirped out, effectively sliding himself between the two supernaturals to keep some distance between them. The vampire and mage had gotten into a fight at a store before, and it didn’t end. Let’s just say, they had to find a different store to shop at after. 

They migrated to that area, all going off to grab the needed items after Logan listed them off. Virgil was sent to grab apples, Roman to grab cherries, Patton to grab the oranges, and Logan stood near the cart to check off the items when they got back. 

Patton was surprisingly the first to arrive, a huge grin on his face as he set his items in the cart, but kept something hidden behind his back. “Hey, hey Logan?”

“Yes, Patton?” He asked without looking up from the paper. 

Patton giggled. “What’s a vampire’s favorite fruit?”

Logan sighed, looking up. “Patton, please-“

“Come on, Logan! Just hear me out!”

“I swear, if you say a nectarine I am going to say falsehood so loud that it will inevitably make your eardrums burst and your ears will bleed.”

Patton laughed happily, showing the object behind his back. “I was gonna say a blood orange, but yours was ten times better! See, you’re great at puns!” And yes, in his hands was a blood orange. 

“Just put the damn fruit in the cart.” Logan forced his lips to stay down, but they started to lightly twitch, wanting to turn upwards. It wasn’t even that funny of a joke, for God’s sake. 

“Cherries for the good man!” Roman popped up in front of Logan. “Yeet!” He then threw the bag of cherries in Logan’s arms with a dazzling twirl. Logan shot his arms forward and since it was a slightly higher throw, when he caught it it hit his face, causing his glasses to become askew. 

“I don’t understand how you’ve haven’t taken this guy out yet, Logan.” When the heck did Virgil get here?

“Oh, it has been quite hard. You have no idea.” Logan mumbled, setting the cherries in the cart, not before sending Roman a death glare. Roman rested a hand on his chest in offense, glaring back. 

Patton asked excitedly, “What’s next on the list, Lo!” Keep the two from fighting, that was Patton’s mission today. 

Logan cleared his throat. “The next destination will have to be the meat section.” Virgil took control of the cart again, letting Patton and Logan lead the way to the isle. 

“Hey, Virgil? Do you have any other interests then being a complete die hard emo?” Roman questioned as he walked next to the shorter. 

The man in questioned raised an eyebrow, glancing at Roman. “I summon the devil and have a chit chat with him on occasion.” He answered sarcastically. “What’s it to you?”

Roman rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t be surprised. You’re probably his right hand man.” He earned a hum in confirmation from Virgil. “And I’m asking because Patton insisted that I try and get to know you.” Ah. Of course. 

“Look, let’s just get over this,” Virgil said. “You obviously are only asking me this question because of Patton. So pretend I answered your question seriously and go to the beauty products section and stop trying to talk to me.” He replied bluntly, speeding up that little bit to catch up with Patton and Logan and get away from the thorn in his butt. Luckily, Roman seemed to get the hint and didn’t say anything to him. 

“We’re here!” Patton declared, skipping down the isle. Virgil parked the cart to the side to get out of the way of any passing people. He let out a soft sigh and leaned against the cart, flicking a piece of hair from his eyes. 

As he examined the items on the selves in the freezer, mostly meat, his eyes landed on Logan. The pencil was tucked behind his ear, list neatly folded and in his back pocket. A packet of meat was in his hands, and he turned it around this way and that in his hands, examining it closely. After a second, he brought it close to his face, sniffing it. 

Virgil raised both eyebrows, watching Logan silently. He was curious but also slightly confused by the behavior. Not weirded out though. He had seen weirder things on the internet. 

And then it happened. 

Logan opened his mouth wide, fangs gleaming in the light slightly before he chomped down, puncturing the packaging and stabbing into the raw meat. 

Virgil’s eyes widened, and he looked past Logan to the end of the isle, and he could seen the front of a cart turning down the isle Logan was snacking in. 

With quick movements, Virgil ran around his own cart and grabbed a hold of Logan by wrapping a tight arm around the other’s shoulders. “No, no. That won’t do, that meat doesn’t look to good, dude.” Virgil stated, ripping the thing from the vampire and effectively stuffing it under another package of meat, hiding the evidence. 

As the cart driver turned down their isle and started walking down it, Virgil glanced at Logan’s face to see it was slightly covered in blood. Thinking fast, as the man that had turned down at the wrong time at the wrong moment drew closer and his panic grew, he grabbed the cherries they had previously picked up and stuffed them straight in Logan’s face, effectively covering the blood. “S-See, I think these cherries smell like they popped out of Satan’s own ass. What do you think?” 

Logan looked utterly confused, honestly. Virgil just forced a relaxed smile as he could feel himself sweating nervously, shaking that little bit. 

The man passed by with only giving Virgil a slightly weirded out look by his statement, but other than that kept on his way. 

Virgil didn’t bring the cherries away from Logan’s face till the man was completely gone, which he then let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, and threw the bag of cherries back in the cart. He stuffed his hands deep in his sweatshirt pockets, shoulders hunched. “What the fuck were you thinking?! Why the fuck did you do that?”

Logan could only blink at Virgil. “Do you know how dangerous that was? He could’ve seen you, Logan! God, and you’re supposed to be the smart one.” Virgil growled, before spinning and walking back to the cart, taking deep breathes. 

“Smell like they popped out of Satan’s... ass?” Logan questioned after a few moments of silence. 

Virgil grew flustered, leaning back against the cart and sinking into his hoodie. “I couldn’t think of anything else, okay? That was literally the first thing that came to mind.” He mumbled out. “Just grab the meat you need and put it in the cart.”

Logan gave a slow and silent nod, picking one of the other meats that looked just as good as the last. He decided that it was best not to question about it more. Still, that was a very odd, ahem, situation. He set the meat in the cart and grabbed the list, scratching off ‘meat’. 

A silence fell over the two and after a few seconds they both slowly looked at each other, eyes wide. “Do you know where Patton is?” Logan asked. 

“No,” Virgil answered. “Do you know where Patton is?”

“No.”

Another beat of silence.

“Shit.” They said in unison. 

Before they could get started on their Patton hunt, however, a voice called out to them. “Hey! Hey, kiddos! Could you possibly help your friendly neighborhood dad out?” Logan and Virgil both spun around to find Patton with items stacked up in his arms. 

Virgil was the first to approach Patton, helping get some of the load off him. “Patton, why did you go off like that without telling us? We cannot disperse like that, we need to keep together.” Logan scolded as they came back to the cart. 

“Sorry, Logan.” Patton smiled guiltily. “I just wanted to help finish this up faster. Sorry.”

“It’s fine, Patton, just please at least tell us where you are going and what you are doing before you go.” Logan informed. 

“I will! For next time!” 

Virgil grabbed a hold of the cart again and called to the both of them, grabbing there attention. “Because I don’t want anyone else falling behind, I want Patton to be on my right and Logan you will be on my left. Hold the cart as we go.”

Patton happily obliged, bouncing over to Virgil’s right and taking a hold of the cart. Logan, however, didn’t move. “This is preposterous, Virgil. I do not need to hang onto the cart like I am a toddler. I will not wonder off and cause trouble.”

“I think the scene you caused a few minutes ago says otherwise nerd.” Virgil pointed out, squinting slightly. “Roman, you’re going to hang onto the cart too, I hope you know that.”

Silence. Nothing, completely silent. On second thought, they haven’t heard the mage say a thing or make any sort of noise since they arrived in the isle. “Roman?” Logan called out a little louder as Patton looked around. 

“Oh no!” Patton cried out. “Where’s Roman? How long has he even been gone? Oh dear, and we didn’t even notice he wasn’t here-“

Virgil pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m so done,” he whispered under his breath before breathing in. “Logan, where could Roman possible be?”

Logan looked a slight bit confused for all about zero point two seconds before his expression went to a familiar “I’m so done” Look. “The section where the glitter is held. Or the jewelry counter.”

“Let’s go there then!” Patton said, and pushed hard on the cart, taking full control of it. Virgil lurched forward, hanging onto the cart for dear life as he breaks out into a run next to Patton as he’s pulled along. He heard a surprised cry from Logan behind him, and contemplated whether to tell Patton to slow down, but the look of determination on his face said there was no way anyone was going to stop him. 

As they zoomed past isles and shoppers, Patton eventually came to a screeching halt a few feet away from the jewelry counter, almost causing Virgil to go head over heels into the basket of the cart. 

Logan silently appeared next to Virgil as the human got his wits about him again, staring straight forward at the familiar figure talking excitedly to the employee at the counter. 

“You have so many beautiful jewels! Gosh, I haven’t see this much since I was a young prince!!” Roman gushed. 

The employee, a teen girl who looked like she’d rather be anywhere but here, gave an uninterested nod. “Oh wow. So cool.” She said in a dull voice. 

“Yes, it was very cool, young maiden! The warriors would decorate a lot of their weaponry with the most beautiful of gems-“ Roman was close to rambling the poor teen’s ear off when Virgil came swooping in. Honestly, he was just done with everything right now. 

“Thank you for telling that story, but we need to go, prince under arm stink.” Roman yelped, jumping in his spot and whipping around. The teen at the counter cracked a smile. 

“Stop appearing on me like that! Odin’s eyepatch you’re like Logan!” Roman exclaimed, brushing himself off. Don’t mind the light pink tint to his cheeks. 

Virgil softly rolled his eyes. “I’ll stop appearing when you actually listen to people. I believe I said the beauty section, not the jewelry section.”

Something flashed across Roman’s face, but it was gone in a split second. “Yes, well, I don’t take orders from you, Panic! At The Everywhere.” He hotly turned away from him and walked back to the cart. 

Before Virgil could follow, though, a ‘psst’ caused him to stop and look. It was the employee. “Thanks for saving me there. I was about ready to go crazy on him.” She said and held out her fist to him. 

Virgil smiled nonchalantly (even though currently he’d rather not talk to anyone) and gently pumped her fist with his. “No problem. I live with him, anyway, so I have to be used to it.”

“Damn. Kudos to you for surviving.” She commented with a slight smile. He nodded to her and came back to the cart. 

“Why did you fist pump her? Is she in some emo occult group with you?” Roman asked as they started towards the check-out. 

“Do you ever stop talking?” Virgil shot back. 

“Now, now, kiddos. Let’s talk nice to each other-” Patton soothed. 

“Hi! Did you find everything okay?” The scanner person asked perkily as they drove up, causing any more arguing to be temporarily stopped. 

“Yes, we did. Thank you.” Logan replies, setting all the items on the belt. 

Half way through, Virgil realized just how much items they had. Surely these supernaturals didn’t have any cash. He was probably expected to pay. How was he supposed to pay when he was about broke? Virgil still needed to look for a job. 

As the items filled more and more of the bags and were put back into the cart, anxiety creeped up his spine as he watched the price rise on the screen at the register. 

No, no. He can’t pay for this. This is too much. He can’t, he can’t. God, it’s going to be such an inconvenience having to take back all the items and sort the items out he can’t afford and-

“Chip?” Logan questioned and the cashier nodded. That’s when Virgil realized Logan actually had a card in his hand. A debit card. Virgil watched as Logan paid for everything. 

How did Logan have any cash? The three couldn’t have jobs, Virgil hoped to everything that was holy that they didn’t have jobs. “Thank you for shopping, have a nice day!” The lady chirped, and Virgil  
took the lead with the cart again. He almost felt stupid for getting worked up. Of course, they had to have money somehow. How would they have survived during the time they didn’t have a human roommate? Though, he was still curious. 

“Alright, spit it out. How do you have money? You three obviously don’t have any jobs.” Virgil asked, looked over at Logan. 

“Well,” The vampire started, “my family were very rich people back then. Still are, in fact. I have my own money I gained from that time, which is quite a lot as well.”

“Was you’re family, like, royalty or something?”

“No, inventors.”

The conversation would have continued if the cart hadn’t come to a sudden stop. Virgil ‘oof’ed softly when he ran into the cart, looking up to see what he had ran into exactly. 

And, well, it looked like he about ran over a man. It seemed, however, that this man had caught the cart before it even had time to run into his body. 

This man was quite... different. 

This man wore a black button up shirt with a yellow vest pulled and buttoned over it. The buttons on the shirt were yellow while the buttons on the vest were black. His legs were clad with black slacks and shiny, newly polished dress shoes covered his feet. A bowler hat adorned the top of his head and his hands were hidden by yellow gloves. 

The style option wasn’t even the weirdest part. It was the man’s face. 

On the left side of his face, snake’s scales were tattooed on his pale skin. His left eye had a yellow contact in it, the pupil slit. 

Even though this man’s posture was relaxed and he had a non threatening smirk on his face, Virgil couldn’t help but feel intimidated. The atmosphere around him had grown cool and icy. 

“Ah, what a pleasant surprise.” He spoke, his voice sounding rich and smooth. Almost hypnotizing. “I see you’ve found a new chew toy.” Virgil took his gaze off the mysterious man for a second to look at the supernaturals at his side. 

Logan was as stiff as a board, back straight and facial expression completely expressionless and cold. His eyes were hard as they looked at Mister Snake Man. 

Roman looked about ready to fight. He was tense and his hands were balled into fists as if ready to pounce and protect and attack if need be. 

Patton... oh, Patton looked angry. Truly, truly angry. And if Virgil is being honest, it actually scared him. He had never seen Patton look so menacing before like he did now. The werewolf looked like he was about ready to bite this guy’s head off. 

“What’s your name, new roommate? I don’t believe I have ever seen you around.” The man asked, his hands smoothly sliding away from the cart, his smirk growing. Virgil felt his chest tighten and his mouth was moving even though he didn’t want it to. 

“V-Virgil.” He squeaked out pathetically. This man was cunning, but there was something else?

“Back off him, Deceit, or you’ll be nothing but a crispy snake after I’m finished with you.” It surprised Virgil greatly that these exact words came straight from Roman’s mouth. 

Mister Snake Man, or Deceit as he was called, chuckled. “Oh, come now, Prince Roman. I’m only asking him his name. The cops are going to want witnesses knowing him anyway once they find his mangled body in the woods.”

“It is one thing to ask him his name, it is another to force the information out of him.” Logan countered coolly, eyes squinting into a glare. 

“Warm-hearted Logan,” he replied with a wide smirk. “we meet again. I would think you would be the last one to defend a human. So full of emotions, blood so rich and thick. Skin so warm and alive.” Deceit spoke slowly, and then there was a gloved hand on Virgil’s chin, turning his head side to side. How did he even get here? How fast did he even move? “Such a pretty thing.” A warm breath tickling his ear, invading his space. 

“Back off of him, Dolos!” Patton barked threateningly, and the hand was removed and Virgil heard a hiss that sounded much like a snake. 

“Oh, and Patton. Sweet, adorable Patton.” Deceit about growled. “Or should I say murderous, blood-thirsty, werewolf Patton.”

“Shut your stupid snake face up!” Roman stepped forward, his hands raising, but Patton gently grabbed his wrist. 

“No. He’s not worth our time.”

“Oh ho, ho.” Dolos laughed. “Look at the big brains on Patton. Being all responsible and being a big boy. A big werewolf.”

“That is enough.” Logan snapped and Virgil shrunk back, holding onto the cart tightly. The grocery store cart, the one thing to ground him in this dizzying situation. 

Deceit turned his gaze to Virgil. “Virgil, look at me,” Virgil hesitantly obeyed, eyes wide and filled with panic. “Don’t stay with these monsters. They can kill you. They will kill you. Leave as soon as possible before it’s too late. Believe me.” Virgil stared at the contact, and Virgil is starting to believe that maybe it isn’t a contact. It’s perfectly straight, it’s not askew in the slightest. It looks real. 

Virgil whimpered, but it’s weak and breathless and it’s when he realized he really can’t breath. He can’t pull in any air into his lungs. 

And someone’s talking to him. Or maybe someone’s talking to Deceit. Or maybe there’s two people talking, one to him and one to Deceit. Virgil’s not quite sure, but all he knows is that he can’t tell what their saying. They’re muffled and he can’t quite tell what they’re saying beyond the ringing in his ears and his heavy breathing and wheezing. 

“We... car... de... leave...” is the few words he can pick up on, and through his blurry vision, he can see Deceit slither away. No. No, not slither away. At least not literally slither. 

Virgil doesn’t know it, but Roman and Patton both made Deceit leave and are quickly but carefully trying to calm Virgil done. 

Eventually, they manage it, and it’s a bit of a blur from when Virgil gets from outside of the store to his car, but he’s there. 

Logan decided it’s best not to drive yet, especially after what Virgil went through. Just a break. A nice break. 

 

——————

Back at the front of the store, a call is being made. The snake lied in the bushes, quietly stalking his pray. 

“Yeah, it’s me, Deceit. They have him. I am afraid they have gained his trust faster then we had thought.” From the spot Deceit is standing, he can see the old Hatchback, but they’re too focused on the human. 

“No, no... no. Though, I do have something that might cheer you up. A delightfully devilish plan that I believe will be discussed best face to face.”

Dolos smiled a wicked smile. 

“Oh, yes. You will get the revenge you so rightfully desire with this plan.”


	7. Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tw: there’s just a lil bit of violence and a bit of fighting and such towards the end of the chapter (that’s really all I can say I dONT WANT TO SPOIL IT)

It was a difficult decision on how the four would get back home. Even though Virgil insisted that he could still drive just fine after attacks, the other’s still pushed that one of them should still drive, preferably Logan. Although none of them had actually drove any sort of vehicle, Logan would’ve been the best choice for it. 

However, Virgil managed to talk them into letting him drive even though he would much rather just curl up into a ball of blankets and be left alone for all eternity. The drive back home was a blur, and he felt too tired and drained to think of how Dolos, the strange man, could’ve known the three supernaturals in his car. 

Once home, Patton helped him into the house, and Virgil didn’t even make it up to his room. He just flopped down on the couch, curled up into his hoodie, and passed out. 

________

Virgil didn’t wake back up till it was dinner time and it was oddly silent as they sat at the table with their food. No one said a word. Even the two social butterflies, Roman and Patton, sat silently eating their food. Everyone was pretty much avoiding the big elephant in the room. 

A sigh broke the silence and caught everyone’s attention. It was Patton. “I suppose you have a lot of questions, kiddo.” 

Virgil gave a slow nod. “Uh, yeah. Mostly just who that creepy snake dude is and how you know him. That’s about it. You don’t have to tell me now though, if you’re not-“

“No, no.” Patton shook his head. “You deserve to know now.” He swallowed quietly, staring down at his plate. 

“Do you want me to start, Patton?” Roman asked, but Patton shook his head, insisting he tell it. 

The werewolf took a deep breath before starting. “Dolos Viper used to be one of our housemates. He lived with us for a good six months. Dolos was great. He was charming, and funny, and there was never a dull moment with him. He wasn’t a human. We all knew that, but he was nice. But...” Patton trailed off, pausing to compose himself. “But one month before Roman’s birthday, one week after a full moon, Dolos attacked. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner while Logan and Roman where in their rooms. Dolos went for Logan first...” Patton stopped and looked up at the vampire quietly, as if asking if he should tell this part of the story next. 

Logan made eye contact and gave a nod, clearing his throat. “At the time, I was the strongest in the household. Patton had gone through his werewolf transformation not too long ago, and Roman had been practicing his magic over the past few days. He explained it as having a bad feeling about something or other, and if you want more details as to why, then you can ask him.” Logan told, wiping his hands off on his napkin and giving the mage a quick glance. “Dolos was very quiet when he entered my room and he had dulled his scent I presume with a spell of sorts or possibly a potion. Anyway, since he had been with us for so long, he was able to find out information about us. 

“Now, vampires are not effected by garlic in the slightest. However, there are rare times when a vampire is born being allergic to garlic. I, unfortunately, am one of those rare cases. Dolos knew this. My reactions can range from rashes to burns or from temporary paralyzation to suffocation depending on the dosage. Apparently, Dolos did his studies. He managed to force the right amount of garlic into my system to cause every muscle in my body to lock up and freeze. After that, I only presume he planned to go to Patton next.”

“However,” Roman started next, but his voice wasn’t dramatic like Virgil would think. It sounded, well, like how any normal person would tell a serious event like this. “I had came up from my room to check to see how far along Patton was on his cooking. He was almost finished and he asked me to inform Logan of it. So, I did, going up the stairs to his room, only to hear a few crashing sounds halfway up. Specs over here wasn’t going to go down that easily. I rushed up quickly, but was too late. The effects of the garlic had already hit Logan and Dolos was already on his way to attack Patton next. 

“You see that picture up there?” Roman questioned, motioning towards the one near the table where they had took it in Disneyworld. “That bandage peaking out from under my shirt was because of Deceit. He had hit me with one of his spells-”

“Spells? What the hell is Dolos? A mage too?” Virgil cut in, his knitted together in confusion. 

Roman laughed, shaking his head. “Oh god, no! He said just a sorcerer, but it’s very obvious at this point he’s a dark sorcerer. And yes, there’s a difference between the two, though it’s obvious. Dark sorcerers are villains, sorcerers are good guys.”

“Well, what’s the difference between a sorcerer and a mage then?” Virgil asked. “Aren’t you both just the same thing?”

Roman gave a ‘so-so’ sign with his hand. “Oh, well, not exactly. We both do use spells, yes, but I use more elemental spells as in fire, light, electricity, and so on as well as healing while a sorcerer will use more offensive, less elemental spells like poison, darkness, telekinesis, and it’s even rumored that some know necromancy. There’s more but that’s just a few. Do you think you can guess another one?”

Virgil stares at Roman for a bit, searching his face that just reads clearly ‘you know’, and then it clicked and Virgil’s shoulders rose a little defensively. “Hypnosis?” He mumbled. 

Roman snapped his fingers. “Exactly! You know that snake eye he has? That stupid little bugger is what gives him that damn power! I never knew how, and I still don’t know how. Probably a stupid enchantment somehow, I’m sure-“

“Roman, you’re getting off the story.” Logan cut in, reeling the Prince back in. 

“Oh, yes. Of course. Sorry about that, where was I?” Roman cleared his throat, looking lightly but he continued nonetheless. “Ah yes, anyway, I managed to fly him backwards down the stairs, which caught the attention of Patton. Before any of us could do anything else, though, after recovering, he told us that he never once liked us in the slightest. This housemate deal wasn’t to get a house and become best buddies, it was to get to know us, get to know our information and get us when we were at our weakest point.”

“That was all, though.” Patton finally spoke. “That’s all he said. Get our information. Get our fears, our weaknesses, our strengths. Our pasts. Get us at our weakest time. After that, he left. Gone. We never heard from him again, until a few months later we would get these mysterious notes that we were sure that were him. They were always signed-“

“Deceit S.” The three finished together. 

Virgil furrowed his eyebrows. “Well, what did they say? What was the address?”

“That was the odd part. There was no address, and each had information that we had only told him or each other. No one else.” Logan said. “It had to have been Dolos. However, the letters have stopped since, and the only other time we have seen Dolos was today at the supermarket.” Logan gave a little frown here. “Also, we know that Deceit is Dolos, because he responded when we called him that at the supermarket. However, this only leads us to more questions then answers.”

Yes, Virgil thought to himself, like why did he so willingly respond to the name? Did he want them to know? He was smart and powerful, so he couldn’t have just slipped up. And why did Dolos just give Logan an allergic reaction when he could’ve hit him with a spell, like Roman. And if Dolos’s plan did work out, how would he have taken out Roman and Patton?

“I’m so sorry you had to meet him like that, kiddo.” Patton said sorrowfully, cutting off Virgil’s bombarding thoughts and questions. “And he scared you so horribly like that. I’m so sorry...” Patton’s head hung, his soft curls falling into his eyes. Virgil hesitated slightly, before, hopefully not awkwardly, resting his hand on top Patton’s comfortingly. 

“It’s no one’s fault for Deceit’s actions, alright? It’s no one’s fault that he pushed me to have an anxiety attack.” Virgil reassured, glancing at Roman and Logan to make sure they knew it wasn’t their fault either before bringing his attention back to Patton. “I’m not the best at comforting people, far from it, but...” The pause caused Patton to look up, his eyes showing with unshed tears. “I don’t see you as a monster. I don’t see Roman or Logan as one either.” 

A little tear slipped from Patton’s eye. “Oh Virgil...”

“Well,” Virgil said with a soft chuckle, “unless the definition of a monster is being a complete dork, then I might want to retract that statement.” Patton shot forward from his seat, tackling Virgil into a tight and secure hug. The human gasped in surprise, his chair leaning back dangerously. He gripped a hold of Patton, who luckily had him, and the chair was back in place. Eventually he did hug back. 

“Virgil, you’re a great comforter, shut up.” Patton whispered, letting out soft and wet laughter. Warm breath tickled his ear again, but this warm breath didn’t feel invading. 

Glancing over Patton’s shoulder, he caught the looks of Roman and Logan. With a bit of struggle, Virgil pushed back in his chair. Still hugging Patton, he stood up and motioned towards Roman. “Come here, Princey. Group hug.” 

Roman’s eyes grew wide, surprise written across his face clearly. “W-What?” He questioned. 

“Just get in the group hug, Ro!” That was Patton this time. 

Roman seemed to get out of his trance and smiled widely and stood. “Wow, I’m surprised you were the one to first event me into this little hug, you Emo Nightmare.” Strong arms engulfed both Virgil and Patton, causing them both to relax. 

“Don’t get used to it. This is a once and a lifetime opportunity. And Logan-“ Logan stopped dead in his tracks. He was so close to getting away. “You’re not getting away that easy. Get over here you big nerd.” 

Logan gave out a, surprisingly, exasperated sigh before slowly walking back over to the group. Quickly, three arms incased him inside their small group, which was overwhelmingly comfortable and warm. 

They stayed like that for a few seconds, just hugging each other peacefully in the silence. 

“Alright, I’m done. That’s enough for me.” Virgil said as he slithered out from the hug, only for Patton to try to cling onto him more. 

Roman laughed and Logan couldn’t hold back the amused smile as Virgil tried weakly to get away from Patton, only to be taken down on the couch. 

________

The next few days after that, to prepare for the full moon and to keep Patton calm and comfortable, it was pretty much family fun night all day for the rest of the week. It was pretty much nice and breezy, except for when it was game night and Logan won Scrabble ridiculously, Virgil can’t even remember what the word was, but it was enough for Roman to flip the board. 

Usually, full moon week wasn’t all that bad for Patton, especially when using the food method. The food method made him full, keeping him from feeling that he needs to hunt and go outside. It is a bit of a hit and a miss, however, because sometimes he will want to go outside and hunt and kill for the joy of it. Now, at that point, it’s obvious Patton isn’t exactly making the calls there, but the wolf really. It can be controlled, but it isn’t easy. However, again, with the full stomach, and with the location they’re currently in, Patton only kills small creatures like rabbits and possibly a deer or two. 

Why Patton doesn’t attack Roman and Logan is because at this point they had become apart of his ‘pack’. They were his family, both human and wolf. So, no point in attacking the people you love and want to protect right? 

“Which is why we will be locking Patton up tomorrow night.” Logan said to Virgil softly, who had the notepad Logan had given to him for taking notes in his lap. Virgil was definitely not taking notes in it, by the way. 

Logan’s eyebrow twitched slightly. 

Logan went out of his way to make a PowerPoint (yes, he made a PowerPoint over this subject and yes he did enjoy making it) to possibly help the anxious human prepare himself and not ask questions when the time came. It was already past the time he should be asking questions anyway, but that’s besides the point. 

“Because,” Logan started up, “Patton’s werewolf form does not know your scent, and will not hesitate to rip you to shreds, making your intestines and any other internal organs into decorations.”

“Wow, really. I had no idea.” Virgil replied sarcastically, continuing to doodle in the pages of his notepad. “Look, some of this is new information for me, and I appreciate your PowerPoint, it’s cute and all, but it’s not hard to piece together some of the information after awhile. This is the first time Patton has turned with me around, so wolf Patton doesn’t know, so wolf Patton will try and kill me. I get it.”

Logan sighed frustratingly. “You seem to be in a good mood, Specs.” Virgil smirked, though Logan couldn’t help but realize how tired it was. 

“You don’t seem to be in an any better one. What was it that happened this morning? Oh, yes. You slapped Roman with a frozen waffle after he called you, I believe it was, ‘Walmart version Gerard Way’.”

“He deserved it,” Virgil explained, sitting up in his seat. “It wasn’t even a good insult! No one can be any version of Gerard Way, and I’m certainly not a Walmart version of him. He’s a god.”

“Well, I wouldn’t quite-“

“He is a god, you can’t tell me otherwise, don’t even try.” 

“Alright, okay.”

Virgil smiled softly, leaning back in his seat and going back into his comfortable slumped position. 

“However, there is something else going on, am I correct?” Logan questioned, causing Virgil to sigh. 

“Just anxiety. I’m tired from waking up in the middle of the night from panic attacks, I’ve lost my appetite most days, it’s hard to breath sometimes, and I just feel already like utter shit. Oh yeah, and then sometimes I vomit, because again, anxiety.” Virgil shrugged. “It’s just because of this week. The information does help, I am thankful for it, but there isn’t much else you can do for it. All we can do now, is just wait for the week to be over and this full moon thing to pass over.”

Logan looked surprised. “I... had no idea.”

Virgil let out a bitter laugh. “Don’t feel bad about it. I kept everything on the down low,” he admitted, “Patton’s already stressed over the full moon, I can tell. I couldn’t let him know about my problems. And you and Roman are busy trying to keep Patton as stress free as possible.”

“Well, I agree with you it was best not to go to Patton for help on this week, even if he most likely would’ve been the best help,” The vampire said, “but you could have still gone to either me or Roman. And I know what you are thinking, even I can see it on your face and I am not very skilled at reading people. Roman is very caring, however, once you get passed the ego and over dramatic nature.” 

“Oh really?” Virgil asked with raised eyebrows. 

“Hey, nerd!” Roman called as he poked his head into the room. “And Emo that assaulted me with a waffle. Patton and I made a fresh batch of cookies and they are most certainly not going to finish themselves. Come and taste these delicious treats before they go cold!”

“Oh my god, do you have an off switch.” Virgil groaned, standing from his seat. 

“I’ve been asking myself that for quite sometime now.” Logan answered back quick as ever, causing Roman to gasp in offense as the other smirked and turned his laptop off. 

“How dare you! Now I won’t save any cookies for you both at all, you don’t deserve it with that attitude.”

“You kiddos better get down here or I’m going to eat these cookies all by myself!” Patton called from down the stairs. 

“He will, you know. He has done it before.” Logan informed Virgil. “We better get to the kitchen because that is not a falsehood he speaks. He will eat those cookies alone if we let him.”

“At least you two wouldn’t get your cookies. I already had mine.” Roman said hotly, stepping out of the room. 

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Oh stuff it Princey.” He flicked his forehead. 

The mage gasped again. “Did you just flick me?!”

“Nope.” Virgil replied with a smirk.

“If you two start fighting I’m escorting you both out of the house, now go downstairs.” Logan said, ushering them out of his soon-to-be room. 

________

“So, you’re locked in here, like, all night?” Virgil asked as he peered into the room the evening of the full moon. It was lined with stone and had a thick mental door with many, many locks to keep it closed. The location of the room was down the hatch and right next Logan’s temporary room, which he was still occupying at the moment. 

There was nothing in the room, also. It looked very bland and boring. Well, except for the long claw marks on the walls that Virgil decided to ignore to the best of his abilities. 

“Yep! It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, kiddo. Just needs to be strong to keep me inside!” Patton said, sounding far too chipper for what he was talking about. 

“It just seems, I don’t know... cruel.” Virgil mumbled softly.

Roman shook his head. “No, it isn’t cruel. What would be cruel is if we let him roam around and have you for his midnight snack.”

“Roman!” The werewolf exclaimed. 

“No, no. He’s right actually.” Virgil said with a shrug before checking the time on his phone. “Uh, so when do you get locked up in here?”

“Probably now.” Patton replied, glancing questioningly at Roman, who gave a short nod. 

Patton smiled, though it was small and seemed forced as he entered inside the room, which seemed more like a prison cell if you thought about it, but it was necessary. 

“Alright, here we go, Padre.” Roman said softly, pushing closed the large door. With quick movements, like he’s done this a million times, he started sliding and closing locks and padlocks, his hands blurring. It was only a few seconds before Roman pulled his hands away, finished with his work. 

“Hey, Roman?” Patton’s voice called out, almost completely inaudible from behind the door. 

“Yes Patton?” Roman yelled. 

There was a few seconds of silence before, “I gotta go to the bathroom.”

“Oh my god, Patton! Are you frickin’ kidding me? I asked you that like five minutes ago!” Roman groaned. 

Muffled giggles were heard quietly from the door. “I’m just pulling your leg kiddo!”

Virgil snorted and let out a laugh. “Get fucked Princey.”

“Language!”

“Get wrecked Princey.”

“Much better!”

Roman let out an offended noise. “Oh, so you only tell him off for his swearing but not for hurting my feelings?”

“Well,” Patton started off gentle and slow, as if speaking to a toddler, which only caused Virgil to snicker, “are your feelings actually hurt, Roman?”

“Yes!”

“Are they really, kiddo?”

“... no.”

“Then there is no reason to scold him!” Patton replied happily. 

Virgil chuckled, which got Patton to giggle, and eventually Roman. It was nice, really, it helped to lighten the mood for Patton. It helped to keep his mind off what tonight was for just a little bit. 

“You kiddos should get going.” Patton said after a few seconds and the sadness in his voice was shown through ever so slightly. 

“Yes, I suppose.” Roman replied and Virgil’s glancing over in the other’s direction. Even though Roman’s expression is neutral, he can see in his eyes he doesn’t particularly like locking up Patton either and Virgil can understand why. 

“Love you, Roman.” Patton said softly. 

A smile appeared on Princey’s face. “Love you too, Patton.”

There’s a beat of silence, then Patton said something that really caught Virgil off guard. “Love you, Virgil.”

It was so sudden. For a second, Virgil’s pretty sure he doesn’t know how to breath. He’s whole brain is just static except for those three words coming from Patton. And the silence from him seemed to have been drawing thin because Roman had turned and started walking away. 

No. He wasn’t going to leave poor Patton hanging like that. He couldn’t. Not like that. 

“Love you too, Patton.” It rolled off his tongue so easily, and he feels... good. 

There’s a small gasp from Patton, and Virgil can just see the bright grin appearing on the werewolf’s face as he stumbled after Roman. 

As there getting closer to the hatch, both Roman and Virgil don’t hear the squeal from Patton. “You know you just made his night right there?” Roman asked with the most shit eating grin ever. 

Virgil felt happy honestly. Pretty happy. “He deserves to have good nights all the time. We don’t agree on a lot, but you better agree with me on that.”

Roman chuckled as he started climbing up the ladder. “Yes, I agree with you on that.”

________

Patton stared up at the stoned ceiling for hours, his heart staying warm and fluttery, though he knew it would change once it the full moon was out. 

He was completely different once he was transformed and he absolutely hated it. Trying to control his werewolf form was like trying to control another human being who was set on not listening to you in the slightest. But it was himself, and it made him feel sick that he couldn’t control a part of himself. 

Suddenly, his whole body lurched and Patton rolled on his stomach as pain surged through his body. He had no clue how many transformations he had gone through, but god, he had never gotten used to how painful they were. 

He just had enough time to throw off his shirt and cardigan and kick his pants off before his whole body started transforming. His pain filled screaming eventually turned into wolf like howling as the transformation came to finishing. 

New smell. New smell. Intruder. Intruder in his home, his territory. Must kill. Must get rid of. 

Patton’s now very large body slammed full on into the metal door, a low and threatening growl sounding deep in his throat. The door made a whining creak. Patton’s ears pricked at the noise. 

That was very new. Very new indeed. 

Stepping back all the way to the back of the cell, Patton rammed against the cell again. The top corner was bending in, were two of the locks were. With a new found determination, and being able to smell that intruder’s scent, Patton started digging and digging into that little weak spot. Weakening it more and more and more. 

________

“Is it normal to feel bad that we’re up here watching cartoons while Patton is stuck in a cell completely alone?” Virgil asked half way through watching Tangled.

“Yes, actually.” Logan said. “It took Roman quite a bit to get past the guilt and do his normal activities.”

Roman rolled his eyes. “Oh shut up, pocket protector. You were just as guilty when we put Patton down there the first time, don’t give me that. You were probably worse.”

Logan didn’t reply, only adjusted his glasses. 

“Ugh, can we at least talk about something and not sit here and do nothing. Why don’t we talk about, like, stars?” Virgil suggested in a joking manner. 

“Stars?” Logan asked, turning around to look at Virgil from his seat on the floor, his eyes wide and sparkling. “I have all kinds of information on stars, planets, asteroids, black holes, galaxies-“

“Oh no, you’ve got him started again.” Roman groaned, though it seemed more light hearted than actually annoyed. 

“I was actually kidding around, Logan.” Virgil admitted. Though, when the vampire seem to deflate and look like a kicked puppy, Virgil couldn’t stop himself from quickly adding, “but I’m totally down for hearing some sick facts about space. Why the hell not, am I right? You seem to be passionate about it and know your stuff. Go for it.”

“Are you sure?” Logan seemed to have perked up now, but he seemed uncertain. 

“Why not? I don’t here you ramble your head off enough these days, my fellow nerd!” Roman remarked, and he actually paused Tangled, yes paused Tangled, to listen to Logan. 

And Logan’s not sure what to think or do, except smile and he smiled brightly as he pulled out a notebook from god knows where. “Alright! What should we start with first? There is quite a lot about space, so I do have more than one note-“

A loud scratching noise cut Logan off from continuing. The three all glanced in the direction they heard it and found that their eyes had all landed on the direction of where the hatch was. After the scratching, a faint growl was heard. 

No one said a word at first. After a bit, there was more clawing and scratching, more growling. 

Something clicked in Logan’s mind, and he whispered, “Patton,” causing Roman’s head to snap towards in the vampire’s direction. Virgil was completely frozen. 

Then, a loud creak and crash of wood breaking, most definitely the hatch being forced open, and both Roman and Logan were on their feet. Virgil stayed seated on the couch. “Virgil, you need to go!”

Virgil can’t move, like his muscles are locked and his joints are glued. He can’t. He’s frozen. 

Claws cut through the door like it was butter, breaking it apart like it was nothing. A wolf face appeared through the gashes in the wood like in the movie The Shining, and the werewolf rammed its whole body into the door, causing it to fly open with extreme force and bounce off the wall. 

“Shit, Logan get him out of here!” Roman barked, raising his hands up to show balls of red colored light floating in the middle of his palms. It wasn’t lethal magic, just enough to stun Patton back and keep his attention on Roman while Logan got Virgil to safety. 

Logan wasn’t one for taking orders either, but at the moment this was very serious, so without another word he spun around and quickly grabbed a tight hold of Virgil’s arm. As Roman shot magic towards Patton, Logan ran towards the front door with Virgil stumbling clumsily behind him. “You need to hurry up! We do not have-“

“Logan! Behind you!”

It all happened so fast, Virgil really had no idea what was going on. He was up one moment and then he was pushed and down on the floor the next. He blinked a few times and looked up and Logan was wrestling with Patton on the floor a few feet away, right in front of the fucking front door. 

“Merlin’s beard! Get up, I have another way!” Virgil’s head shot up and he was being yanked up by Roman by his arm again, and that’s when the daze and shock of what was going on wore off and what was actually going down set in for the emo. 

And that’s when Virgil’s legs actually started working and his hair started standing on end as he heard the very animalistic growls coming from what used to be his friend, the very sweet and very caring Patton, and a clamp seemed to be crushing his chest and his lungs as he ran with Roman upstairs and his heart beat went faster and faster. 

“Why the fuck are we going upstairs?!” Virgil finally spoke, sounding breathy and panicked. 

“Listen, there’s a way outside through Logan’s not ready yet room. Do you have your car keys on you?”

“Fuck no! Do you think I just fucking carry my goddamn car keys with me wherever I go?!”

“Okay, Jesus Christ, sorry! Then I guess you’ll just have to run like-“

Halfway down the hall and close to the room they need to be in, Roman and Virgil are cut off from their arguing by the loud clicking of claws running up stairs and then a thump behind them as the werewolf slides along the wooden floor and runs into the wall. They both spun around and Roman quickly raised his hands, ready to attack. “Virgil, go into the room and go out the window.”

Virgil looked at Roman like his head had been put on backwards. “Are you fucking crazy? I’ll probably break my ankles if I jump out the window!”

“Would you rather be mauled by a werewolf or possibly sprain an ankle from a two story window? You pick.” Roman replied as Patton shook his head and turned towards the pair, baring his teeth and letting out another growl. As Patton charged, Roman shot off his magic, and that’s when Virgil ran to the room, breathing heavier than might have been necessary but goddamit he was anxious as hell. 

He didn’t even think to close the door, how stupid of him, as he slid to a stop at the window and fumbled with the locks. He shoved it open with force and was about to kick the screen out (who the fuck even puts screens over windows) when he heard the beginnings of most likely Roman yelling “Patton, no!” before he was cut short followed by a loud thump. 

With a kick, the screen went flying off and Virgil took a glance down to see how far of a drop it was to the ground. “Oh, fuck. Shit, fucking hell-“ He swore breathlessly as he started to climb out of the window. 

Virgil had to land this just right, remember to bend his knees, and everything would be okay. Simple as that, right. Yeah, everything is going to be oka-

Teeth chopped down on the human’s pant leg and yanked hard, causing to Virgil cry out in shock, reflexively letting go of the windowsill for only a second, but it was long enough for the werewolf to pull Virgil away from the window completely. 

Virgil clawed at the floor as he was being dragged along the hardwood, trying desperately to cling to anything. He distantly could hear screaming and it took him a little bit to realize it was his own screaming he was listening to at that moment. 

With no warning Virgil found himself being picked up by his pant leg and flung across the room, his own thudding heart beat almost blocking out his terrified screams as for a split second he was flying through the air. 

Then his body smashed against a dresser and all the air had been punched out of him. The screams had been stopped briefly as his body fell to the floor and his lungs just seemed to stop cooperating. He couldn’t even feel the pain that should’ve come with hitting the dresser at full force like that. 

Gasping heavily, Virgil rolled onto his back with his vision swimming, his mind screaming for him to get back up and run. But he couldn’t, he just couldn’t. 

He wasn’t quite sure when his eyes had closed, but apparently they did, because he didn’t see, nor did he actually hear, anything move and loom over him. The only thing that brought his attention from his panicked thoughts and troubled breathing was something coming and resting down on his chest and pressing, almost crushingly so. 

Virgil gasped, eyes shooting open as he came face to face with Patton- no. No, this couldn’t possibly be sweet and caring Patton. This was a werewolf. Just a werewolf, not Patton.

Its lips peeled back to show rows of sharp, pure white teeth and it snarled at him. What was resting on his chest was the werewolf’s large humanlike hand. Its claws were so sharp Virgil could practically feel them straight through his shirt. 

Virgil had no idea what to do as the werewolf’s growling and snarling face came closer and closer to his, and all he could really do was let out a strangled and pathetic sob. 

He waited for it. He waited for those teeth to come chopping down on his face and rip him to shreds till he was unrecognizable. 

The last thing Virgil could feel was the claws curling into his shirt, scratching his skin as the werewolf gripped on to him tightly before-

“PATTON, STOP!!” Logan, it had to be Logan, yelled. Something ran full force straight into the side of the werewolf, causing it to slam into the dresser right next to it, and Virgil had a very slight thought that he would be crushed when the animal fell down. 

It was only for a second though and he felt a hand curl around his arm and, probably with only the intent with pulling him out of dangers way but not exactly calculating the right amount of force needed, the person that grabbed him practically threw him out from under harm’s way. Virgil heard the sound of ripping fabric and once again the feeling of being airborne and then his head cracked against something, the wall maybe, and everything went completely dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck I finally got this fucking chapter out, man. I honestly don’t really like how this chapter was written but damn it I’ve been trying to get this chapter just perfect for so long and I just decided I need to get it out, it’s been a long time. 
> 
> Also, y e s the cliffhanger I know! I’m doing good, yes? Hopefully! 
> 
> (I’m just a small author trying her best okay, this chapter kicked my ass I don’t know why I hate this specific chapter so much it was just one of the more troubling ones for me to write I suppose.)
> 
> Also, hopefully I’ll be able to update this more because maybe updating this will be able to bring back my spark of motivation for this because my brain literally just can’t stop making multiple storylines for me, which makes me want to write them it’s great. I’ll try and get the updates out faster though, because I hate to make you guys wait for a frickin’ month!
> 
> Anywho, I hope you guys liked it and thanks for reading!


	8. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tw: mentions of injuries, mentions of hating oneself, mentions of being done with life (I guess you could read it as Patton wanting to die but you know), nose bleeds (just one though), oof this whole chapter just got a lot of angst so walk in with caution please, treat yourself and take care of yourself !!

_“Why do you have to go?” Virgil asked, eyes glued to the holes on his jeans as he sat quietly on his brother’s bed. He bounced along with the bed as Thomas heaved his almost fully packed suitcase onto his bed bedside him._

_“Because internet isn’t the greatest out here and I’m pretty sure mom and dad want my butt out of here.” Thomas chuckled, slipping a few more of his folded up clothes in. His smile fell a little bit. “You know I would stay if I could. If I could take online classes I would, Virge. But I... I really need to get out of here. I need to get out.”_

_Virgil understood. The yelling had died down quite a bit, but the atmosphere was still cold. Still unwelcoming. “I know.”_

_Thomas zipped his suitcase closed and shoved it farther up his bed. “Hey, I got something for you.” Virgil finally looked up, his eyes wide and blinking. What could Thomas possibly have to give to him right now?_

_The older turned and opened his nightstand, pulling out a plain black rectangular case. “It’s old and used to be mine, so of course it has a few small cracks in it, but it still works and it’s better than sending letters or using the home phone.” Thomas offered the box over to Virgil, who hesitantly took it from him._

_He pulled the lid off slowly and was met with his own reflection in an old smartphone screen. Virgil let out a small gasp. “Not great internet sure, but we still got service! So you can still call me or text me whenever. It uses minutes, but you got a job and the minute cards really aren’t that much. I-It’s just something I came up with right off the bat because I know we won’t be able to see each other, but at least we’ll be able to, you know, here our voices and text if we-“ Thomas was cut off from his own rambling by Virgil engulfing him in a tight hug, almost knocking him over._

_“I love it. Forget the cracks. It’s great. Thank you, Thomas.” Virgil mumbled into his brother’s shoulder, who hugged him back after the shock passed. Virgil pulled away enough to look Thomas’s face. “Promise you’ll text me when your not busy, just to give me a recap on what’s going on?”_

_Thomas chuckled. “Yep!”_

_“And to call on occasion?”_

_“Of course!”_

_“And to visit on holidays and during the summer?”_

_“Well, duh? What kinda brother do you take me for!”_

_Virgil smiled, wide and, for once that whole week, happy. “Good, you big dork.”_

Warm. That’s what Virgil felt, was very warm, like he was still being hugged by his big brother. And for a few seconds, he thought he was still dreaming, still in the little memory.

Then he heard a soft swear of someone nearby and that thought was completely shattered. With a bit of struggle, he slowly opened his eyes, finding himself looking up at the ceiling from where he was laying on the couch. Deja vu much.

Virgil blinked away the sleep from his eyes, and slowly looked to his left where he heard the voice and found Roman slumped in a dining room chair, a hand lightly pressed against his side as it faintly glowed a gentle yellow color.

Roman’s brows were furrowed in concentration and he looked exceptionally... tired. With a soft grunt, which did catch the mage’s attention, Virgil slowly turned to lay on his side, muttering out groggily, “Roman?”

The tired look seemed to go away, or at least be expertly masked, and Roman smiled widely. “Morning, Sleeping Emo. Glad you could join us again.” Virgil noticed that Roman’s hand had stopped glowing and was now lazily sitting in his lap.

“What were you doing?” Virgil decided to ask.

“Healing myself. At least, not entirely. Just making my cracked ribs to only bruised.” The events of last night hit Virgil like a truck after Roman’s statement.

Without even thinking, he started sitting up. “Patton, where’s-“ The room immediately started spinning, and his sentence cut off.

“Woah, hey, take it easy there Brendon Crier.” Roman was by Virgil’s side in an insist, which inevitably caused him to wince, and gently pushed him back down. “I healed you fully, but you’re still going to have some side effects, dizziness being one of them. I’m not a top notch healer here, I was getting tired when I got to you. The only good side effect of healing is feeling toasty warm!”

Virgil blinked up at the other man, confusion showing on his features for a second before they switched quickly to a sort of panicky concerned look. “Patton? What about Patton? Where is he? Is he okay? Is he-“

“Patton’s in his room.” Roman chuckled lightly, gently stepping back to sit down in his chair again. “As for okay, well, physically he is. Minor bruises, a few cuts, and the usual weakness after transformations. As for emotionally and mentally, I’m afraid that’s not exactly... the same.”

“What do you mean?”

Roman didn’t respond immediately. His hand went up to run through his hair, eyes trailing down to look at his jeans, which Virgil noticed had mud on the knees and shins. “Patton’s pretty torn about what he did. What he did to me, to Logan, but most importantly to you.” The mage answered. “I would’ve fixed up his bruises and cuts, those are easy, very little energy to heal, but ever since he transformed back to a human, he’s locked himself up in his room, refusing to let anyone inside. Logan’s still trying to get him to open his door to give him his breakfast so he can regain his energy.”

Of course Patton would take this hard. Patton had literally about eaten the only human that had actually given the three a chance and hurt, from what Virgil could tell, though he was sure Logan probably had a few injuries himself, his best friend and most likely other best friend Roman and Logan in the process of it all.

Roman took the silence from Virgil to say, “I don’t know what you’re thinking, Virgil. Believe it or not, I don’t have some weird mind reading magic to tell if you’re upset or angry or scared with Patton right now. I really don’t know. But... but I’m just asking...” Here Roman paused, and Virgil saw the other probably look the most vulnerable he had ever looked in the time he had been living in the house. The mage’s eyes were tired and almost begging, but filled with a sort of love and protectiveness that you only saw when someone was talking about someone they truly cared about and truly loved, platonic or romantic. “If you are scared or upset or angry, that you try and not show those feelings to Patton, a-at least not right now? He’s just so heartbroken, and I understand if it might be asking a lot, but I hate seeing Patton cry. I hate hearing it. A few tears, a sniffle, that’s not so bad. But when he sobs, gods, I can actually feel the pain in my chest and-“ Roman sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Maybe it’s because I’m fucking exhausted from using so much magic, but I just, can’t hear him sob like that today. So just, please?”

Virgil is silent for a few seconds, not quite sure what to say at first, but eventually he does find something he decided on. “What the hell kind of person do you take me for?”

Roman’s head shot up and he stared at Virgil with large eyes. “I-I-“

“Look, alright, Patton’s pretty fucking scary when he’s full beast mode during full moon, I’ll give you that much, but he’s literally, like, a puppy every day other than that. I can’t be scared or upset or angry with that. I just, literally can’t. So, yeah, I’m pretty frickin’ terrified of beast Patton, I’m gonna be honest, but puppy Patton is cool with me.”

A soft, relieved smile found its way onto Roman’s face and he sighed. “Oh thank Zeus, I thought you were going to go on some long rant on how you were never going to forgive Patton for this.”

Virgil chuckled and raised an eyebrow. “Again, what kind of person do you take me for?”

“Well, a hardcore emo that’s for sure-“

“You always try to make it into an insult that I’m an emo but I totally embrace it.” It was such a light hearted conversation between the two, it was surprising but, honestly, really nice.

It fell silent between the two for a couple of seconds, then Virgil decided to ask, “So, what exactly happened after Logan threw me across the room like I was a rag doll?”

Roman laughed softly at that, leaning back in his chair. “Well, Logan and I managed to get Patton out of the house. Logan kept Patton away while I made sure you weren’t dead or critically injured. And well, to say the least, you were a bit worse for wear.”

Virgil looked at Roman a little worriedly, anxiety bubbling in his stomach. “Uh, alright. You gonna elaborate there, Princey?”

“When Logan pulled you away from Patton, Patton’s claws ripped through your shirt and left some injuries on your chest. Not exactly deep gashes, but not kitten scratches either.” Roman explained, hands clasping together. “And, because pocket protector decided to throw you like you were a dart and he was aiming for the bullseye on a dart board, you cracked your head open when it came in contact with the wall. Also, I’m pretty sure you had a neck injury, I’m not going to lie, he threw you pretty hard.”

Virgil’s jaw dropped and his hand slowly went up to touch the spot where he was sure his head had came in contact with the wall. “Fuck.” He breathed out.

“B-But,” The mage started quickly, “I healed you quickly when I got to you, I swear! No neck injury, no broken open head, no chest wounds! You’re in tip top shape, comrade! I’m afraid I couldn’t save your shirt, it was completely destroyed, and I didn’t have time to try and dress your unconscious body so I literally just zipped up your sweatshirt.”

If Virgil was in a less shocked state he would’ve teased the other for the light blush that was creeping up on his cheeks at that moment, but he didn’t care as he unzipped his hoodie to look at his bare chest. It was completely healed, apart from three very faint pinkish marks that went across his flesh.

“Like I said, I’m not the greatest healer in the world. It’s not a wound anymore and it’ll never open again unless it’s physically cut into, but the marks are still there.” Virgil looked over at Roman once he was finished speaking, zipping his sweatshirt back up. Why did the mage almost look ashamed of that?

“Thanks. Better to have faint scars and have it be healed now with no pain than having to wait for a week and be in pain while it heals, right?” He waited for the mage to look at him, and once he did, he gave him a small smile, in which Roman returned it.

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” The mage agreed.

“Oh, you’re finally awake.” The two both jumped and looked over to see Logan standing near where the door to the hatch used to be, a plate of food in one hand and a glass of milk in the other.

“Oh my gosh Peck, Logan! Please, warn two dudes next time. You’re so quiet!” Roman groaned.

Virgil chuckled. “It would be nice. Though I guess if it gives me a heart attack and gets me closer to death then keep it up.”

“Virgil-!”

“I apologize, I’ll try to be more careful next time.” Logan said, adjusting his glasses with his shoulder. “Though I hate to disrupt your conversation, I do have some news to give, and I’m afraid it isn’t good news. Patton is still refusing to open up his door and now his food has gone cold. I can heat up the food without a problem, but I still cannot get him to let me in to give him his breakfast.”

“Is his door locked?” Virgil asked.

“No.”

“Well, why don’t you just open the door and set the food inside then?”

“Because if I even so much as slightly twist the doorknob he starts to scream at me to go away.”

Virgil couldn’t help himself from chuckling. “That doesn’t sound like Patton. He doesn’t scream at people.”

“The thing is, Specs is telling the truth, Virgil.” Roman said. “When I said Patton was torn about what he did, I wasn’t joking. He’s... really upset. And possibly a bit off his rocking chair.”

“Patton has never been-“

“Metaphorically, Logan.”

“Then let me try and get him to eat.” Virgil didn’t even know why he said that, honestly, but he felt like he needed to help Patton.

Logan and Roman exchanged looks with each other. “Virgil, I don’t know-“

“I’m not angry with, Patton. I’m not upset or scared or, whatever the fuck. I just- from what Roman’s told me, I feel like he’s mostly upset because he hurt me. And I feel like, if I talk to him and tell him that everything’s fine, or if I just get him to eat at least, then it’ll get us somewhere, you know?”

Logan looked skeptical at first, his eyes trailing back to Roman for an opinion. “What have we got to lose, Logan? I doubt I’ll be able do anything more than you have. Just let him try.”

Logan eventually nodded. “Alright. Just let me warm up his food.”

It isn’t long before Virgil has the steaming food in his hand and a new glass of milk in the other as he made his way to Patton’s room, stepping past the debris of last night’s incident. He honestly isn’t quite sure how he got down the ladder so successfully, but he’s proud of himself. He looks at Patton’s door then the plastic bag that’s in his hoodie pocket that Logan gave him before he took a deep breath. Balancing the plate on his forearm and switching the glass to his other hand, he knocked with his now empty hand.

“I-I said go away, L-Logan. Please...” Patton called through the closed door, his voice cracking in multiple places. He’s been crying, of course, Virgil should have suspected that, though it still caused his heart to ache.

“It’s not Logan this time, Pat. It’s Virgil.” It’s silent for awhile and Virgil’s wondering maybe this wasn’t the greatest ideas he’s ever had. Maybe he should leave and just bring Roman down instead-

“V-Virgil? Oh god, Virgil-“ Patton’s cut off by himself as he started sobbing and it’s muffled quickly, Virgil thought possibly by his own hands or a pillow.

And that’s when he could understand Roman’s words. His chest grew tight by the quiet, almost inaudible sobs through the door and apart of him didn’t even want to go inside of the room, because he knew he would be able to hear them more and his chest would hurt more.

“Patton, can I please come in? Can I come into your room?” He managed to say without his voice sounding choked.

Between each heartfelt sob, the words are forced out, “N-No! I-I can’t le-let you in-in-“

“Please, Patton.” Virgil cut him off, his voice gentle and soft. “Please let me in. Please.”

It felt like an eternity, Virgil’s heart pounding against his chest as he waited for an answer, his hand gripping onto the glass of milk just that little bit tighter, but eventually, he just barely heard the soft and broken response, “okay,” from the other side of the door.

The door makes an almost inaudible squeaking noise as Virgil opened it, first peaking his head in before slowly opening it up fully. The first thing he saw was the massive amount of used tissues that were scattered about the whole room, mostly on top of Patton’s bed, but also on the floor around his bed as well.

Then it was Patton, who was sitting up and had his top blanket balled up in his hands and pulled up to his chest. He wasn’t looking at the door where Virgil was standing, but the wall on the completely opposite side. Patton’s face was blotchy and red, his eyes and nose the same brightening color, glasses laying abandoned on the edge of the bed.

Not really knowing what to say in this situation, Virgil decided to go with, “Hey, Patton,” in a quiet and soft voice.

Patton didn’t respond, or even react for that matter, which was more than a bit concerning in Virgil’s opinion. The only thing he did was continue to stare at the baby blue wall very, very intently.

With a soft sigh, the human walked farther into the room, getting closer to the bed. “Uh, hey, I brought you some breakfast. Waffles and eggs. Not exactly you’re waffles and eggs, so it’s not master chef good, but-“

“S-Stop.” Came the cracked whisper of a voice from the half man, half wolf on the bed. Virgil stopped dead in his tracks, about halfway to the bed from where he was standing.

Virgil took in a slow breath, trying to slow his still quick heart beat. “What do you mean? Stop what?”

Patton didn’t answer at first, though as his lip started to quiver, his gaze finally pulled away from the spot on the wall to look at Virgil. “D-Don’t get closer t-to me. Please. Just- just stay back.” His eyes, which were starting to fill with tears, only continued to make eye contact for a few seconds before they quickly flicked away, now examining the pattern of his blanket.

Virgil blinked a few times before giving a soft nod. “Alright. I won’t get closer. But you still need to eat you’re breakfast, that’s kinda still on the table. Food gives you energy and stuff.” He went over to Patton’s desk, which was to his left, and quietly set down the plate of food and glass of milk.

“W-Why?” Patton asked, tears finally falling from his eyes and trailing down his cheeks.

“Pat-“

“Why are you in here? W-Why aren’t you scared of me? Why are you giving me food? Why are you being s-so... _nice_ to me?” Patton asked. His expression could only be seen as pure confusion. He couldn’t even comprehend how Virgil was talking so casually with him, like he didn’t just attack him last night. He swore he had to have been going nuts. Off his rocking chair.

Virgil found himself pulling out the desk chair and sitting down in it. It seemed a lot more comfortable than standing at this point. “Because Patton. You’re pretty much the sweetest guy I’ve ever met out there, and I take into account what people actually say to me.”

“I could’ve been lying to you. You don’t know.” Patton mumbled.

The human shook his head, chuckling. “Patton, that would be the last thing on the list that you would lie about. I’m pretty sure the only time you’ve lied to me is when you told me you didn’t have a third cookie.”

Patton didn’t speak for a moment. “I hate myself for what I did to you. What I did to Logan, to Roman, to everybody in the past. To everything. I... I fucking hate myself so much.” He whispered. Even though his voice was quiet, the emotion was still there, forced out through gritted teeth as his shoulder’s hunched up.

Virgil was speechless, words seemed to have completely left him. It was like a whiplash because he knew Patton was insecure and had balled up negative emotions (even though he was smiling practically twenty-four seven), but Virgil never thought that it was this bad. Anyway, he managed to find something to say, and he spluttered out, “Patton, you- you can’t just put that kind of pressure on yourself-“

“And why not?” Patton questioned, his voice going from a whisper to almost shouting level in only a second and it whiplashed Virgil again. “I’ve killed people, Virgil, I’ve almost killed you for Christ’s sake! And for what? Nothing! Literally nothing! Just some sick gain this monster inside me feeds on! I’m a monster, Virgil! I’m evil!”

Virgil shrunk down in the desk chair and grabbed at his hoodie to pull it around him tighter. It was overwhelming him, the yelling and emotions and the problem at hand, it was a lot and it was too much, this was too much for- _no_. No, he wasn’t going to do this. Not now. Not when his friend needed his help. Shakily, at first, he sucked in a breath. He just needed to breath, first, that was all. Just for a few seconds.

“Oh, god, Virgil I’m so- god, I’m such a horrible friend. I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry.” Patton whimpered, his hands letting go of his comforter to reach up and grip at his hair, pulling on it slightly. His eyes burned with new tears.

Virgil willed himself to focus on his breathing and only his breathing. He spoke only when he was calm. “No, Patton. You’re not a horrible friend.”

“But I am-!”

“No, stop it.” Patton flinched, falling silent almost completely except for his soft sniffling. “Patton, you’re a wonderful friend, and I have two other dudes up on the main floor who will happily back me up on this. Not to be an angsty edgelord here, but apart from my brother, you and the other two are about the only friends I’ve ever had my entire life. And even after this, _incident_ , I still define you as one of my friends. Maybe, even best friends. Because what pure evil being makes two supernatural beings and one human dozens of cookies, has a huge love for dogs, and literally is scared of a daddy long leg spider and just spiders in general?”

Patton’s hands fell from his head, curls a mess on his head, as he turned to look over at Virgil. “And what pure and totally not evil being kills hundreds of people during the full moon with no control over himself, hurts his two best friends that first accepted him for who he was, and about killed the one human who actually gave him a chance?”

“That’s wasn’t you Patton-“

“But it was! That wolf is a part of me no matter what and I can’t do anything about it, Virgil! I can’t cut it out like it’s a tumor, I can’t magic it away, it’s a part of me no matter if I like it or not.” He didn’t even give a chance for Virgil to say more, he just continued. “I can’t do this anymore. I- I really just can’t. I can’t deal with the guilt, the fear of hurting people, and now just the fear and guilt of hurting you is added on. I’m so... done.”

Patton looked so tired, sagged over and limp with his head bowed, as if surrendering to some being ready to take his life. Virgil slowly stood from the desk chair, ignoring his shaky, clammy hands, very slowly approaching the male on the bed. “Patton, listen to me when I say this, alright? You’re not alone right now and you never will be. The reason I’m not frightened of you after this is because I know that that wasn’t you. And I can tell because you’re literally breaking my heart over here by how guilty you are.

“Life’s a steaming pile of shit, definitely, but it’s also awesome at times. That Disney World trip you had with Roman and Logan, I bet that was fun as hell.” Virgil watched as the corner of the other’s lip seemed to curl up just that tiny bit. “And meeting me? A bit rocky, yeah, but it was pretty fun, right? You’ve gotten this far, don’t let life be the winner in this battle. You’ve got so many more fun times in life, don’t let this rock in the road be the one that kicks you down for good.”

By this point, Virgil was right next to the bed, hands in his hoodie as he looked down at Patton. “What if I hurt you again though? What if Roman isn’t able to save you if I hurt you really bad?”

“It’ll be okay, Patton. We’ll figure it out. Roman, Logan, and me. We’ve got your back, always. Eventually, sometime, you won’t have to worry about it.”

Patton sniffled, hand going up to swipe under his nose. “But hey,” Virgil started, causing him to look up this time from his spot on the bed, “why don’t we just relax today and share a cookie?” Tears quickly flooded Patton’s eyes as he watched Virgil pull a plastic bag out of his pocket that had two cookies in them; one for him and one for the other.

Patton outstretched his arms out to his friend, grabbing at the air to signal he wanted to hug him right now as he didn’t have enough energy to jump up and be all bouncy like usual. Virgil gladly leaned forward and held Patton close, letting him cry into his shoulder and curl into him.

_________

“So, we’re here to figure out how Patton exactly escaped this usually unbreakable room?” Roman asked as he followed Logan to the holding room, totally not glancing at Patton’s door as they passed by it.

“Yes, that is correct. Though I believe you will have to start without me for a few minutes as I will be getting something from my room that might help us in our search.”

Roman snorted. “What, are you going to dress up in your Sherlock costume so you can get into character?”

Logan was glad his back was facing Roman. “No, of course not you imbecile. I am grabbing a notebook so we can write and/or sketch the damage. I’m sure there won’t be small details we need to be looking at, but just in case there was a problem wrong with the door that was very small we will be able to notice and see it.”

Roman didn’t listen to half of that, but he shrugged and went along with it. “Alright, whatever Specs. You do your brainiac thing.”

Logan turned went into his room while Roman continued forward to the wreckage. Most of the damage was to the door, which wasn’t too surprising. The mage was pretty sure the stone was strong enough to keep Patton back no matter what.

The top left corner of the metal was curling outwards and down to about three or four of the locks, before the rest looked like they had either been scratched so much they had broken or bursted open from strain. There was deep claw marks on the inside of the door, especially on the top corner. How the heckity heck did that even happen?

As Roman examined it closer, he noticed that the lower locks were shattered or cracked or broken in someway, but the ones near the top seemed to be completely fine. Almost unscathed except for some morphing from the curl of the metal. The hinges that kept the locks in place weren’t even snapped or hanging off the wall either, they were fine.

It took a few seconds for Roman to realize what that actually meant he wanted to punch himself in the face. No, more than that. He wanted to fling himself into the damn sun.

The locks on top weren’t even locked. If they had been, they would've been damaged like the others. He had completely missed them, probably in his stupid fast hands and magic, trying to show off. Stupid, stupid, _stupid_.

Roman gritted his teeth and growled, rising a hand up to dig his fingers into his scalp. All of this was all his fault. Patton getting out, Patton badly injuring Virgil, everything was literally his fault, _oh gods_ -

No. No, he could fix it. He could fix all of this, it would be fine. It would never happen again, it was fine.

Luckily, Roman had once accidentally set one of Logan’s books on fire and had quickly learned a spell to fix objects and bring them back to their original state. Depending on how large and how much mass the object had, it took a lot of energy to fix.

Though Roman was sure it would be fine. Everything would be fine and dandy and everyone will be happy. Yeah.

So, without even a second thought about exhausting himself, he raised his hands and concentrated hard on the door. Lights of red strings flowed from his fingers and made their way to the door, slowly working on the door.

Roman was already starting to feel light headed, but that wasn’t the point. The point was fixing this door.

Logan huffed softly as he came from his room, a pencil tucked behind his ear and a book in his hand. “I apologize for the wait, I apparently need a new supply of- Roman, what the hell are you doing?!”

The mage debated on responding or not, but eventually he just went with, “Fixing the door.”

“Yes, I can see that, but I didn’t ask you to! I only asked you to examine the damage and that was all. You are in no state to being fixing a whole metal door.” It was clear to anyone, except for Roman apparently, that he was not in good shape as his brow was starting to become caked in sweat and his whole body was shaking.

“I’m fine, Logan! I’ve fixed things before-“

“Yes, a burnt book and a spoon that was bent out of shape, but not a door! You’ve also already used a large amount of your magic, you need to rest.”

The mage decided to stop responding now, focusing solely on the door, the red strands bending and molding parts back together.

“Roman, stop what you’re doing what now! The door can wait to be fixed.” Logan demanded, stepping towards his stubborn friend, but stuttering to a halt when his head snapped to look over at him.

“It’s my fault this door is like this! It’s my fault Patton got out and hurt everyone! I need to fix it!” Roman’s face would’ve looked angry if it wasn’t for how sickly pale he looked at the moment. He looked angry, but it was more of a tired angry.

Logan’s eyes widened in horror as blood started to trickle from both of the mage’s nostrils. “I’ll fix the door and everything will be okay... we’ll be... fine... and d...” Roman didn’t even finish as he stumbled, the red magic disconnecting from its holder and disappearing. Logan practically threw himself towards Roman, grabbing a hold of him before he had a chance to hit the floor. He didn’t even realize that he had yelled Roman’s name on his action to save the other from hitting the floor.

“Roman! Roman, Ro- hey, hey can you hear me?” Logan found himself asking frantically as he gently patted Roman’s cheeks, trying to grab his attention and keep him awake. His eyelids kept fluttering, meaning Roman was trying to keep himself awake, but it wasn’t easy.

Roman couldn’t feel anything, his whole body just felt numb and dead. The only thing he could actually feel was Logan’s hands on his cheeks and the fiery burning on his side were his injury was. He didn’t understand why.

“Roman, come on, give me something. Can you blink for me slowly? Can you try that?” Logan didn’t even know how loud he had been, or how loud they had both been, but apparently it was enough to bring Virgil and even Patton out of his room, though he was using Virgil for support.

“Logan, what’s going on? What’s happening?” Virgil asked, approaching the vampire that was on the ground.

Since Logan’s back was to the two, it was a little hard to see that Roman was there. His head whipped around however when he heard the voices, eyes wide and expression... scared. That was it. Scared. “Roman. It’s Roman.”

Virgil and Patton were over to the two as soon as they could get there, both dropping to the ground on either side of their fallen friend. “Shit, what the hell happened to him?” Virgil turned to Logan for answers, but all he got from the vampire was a shake of his head.

“I… I don’t know. He was trying to fix the door with his magic and his nose started bleeding and then he fell.”

“Guys, he’s so warm. He’s burning up!” Patton interjected, one hand on Roman’s forehead while the other was holding on tightly to his hand.

Roman could tell there was talking around, more than just Logan now, but the voices were very muffled. They sounded worried, but he couldn’t tell what they were really saying. Like his ears were filled with cotton. Someone was holding his hand or something had been set in it, he wasn’t quite sure.

He felt tired though. Really, really tired. A nice little nap wouldn’t hurt, would it? Slowly, Roman stopped trying to fight off the dark spots clouding the edges of his vision and keep his heavy eyelids closed. Before he slipped into complete darkness, the last thing he really heard was the very muffled voices growing frantic and something coming down on his face to try and keep him awake, probably. But it was too late. He just wanted to sleep.

__________

“Is he going to be okay?” Virgil asked for probably the tenth time that hour as he stared at the unconscious mage on the bed. After Roman had passed out and the three had freaked out for a few seconds, they had decided that it was probably a good idea to move Roman too a more comfortable location than the floor. So, they took him to his room, and now they’re trying to cool down his body temperature while Logan tried to find any information what they should be doing for Roman.

Patton gave a soft sigh. “I’m not sure, kiddo, but if it helps, I think I’m seeing some color coming back to his cheeks. I can check his temperature again and see if that’s lowered some. In the meantime, can you go wet these washcloths again? It’ll take your mind off it for a little bit.”

Virgil nodded and stood up from his seat on the floor, grabbing the cloths from Patton, who gave him a reassuring smile in return. As he was walking to the little kitchen they had tucked away down where they were, Virgil felt his phone starting to vibrate in his pocket and his ringtone going off quietly. He huffed, pulling his phone out to silence the call, but when he saw the caller ID he froze, blinking a few times to make sure it was actually real.

One second went by, two seconds. Then without another thought, he answered the call and brought the phone up to his ear.

Oh Jesus, what was he even going to say, this was stupid why did he answer he was supposed to be doing some-

“H-Hello?”

“ _Hey Virge. Gosh, um, it’s been awhile_.”

 Thomas. It was his big brother, Thomas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, it's been awhile my dudes. How have you been? Good I hope!
> 
> I was actually thinking about leaving this chapter on an angsty cliffhanger again but then I'm like nah, I'll just leave it on a normal cliffhanger and let your hearts have a rest. 
> 
> Ehk, sorry for the really long wait by the way! I wanted to get this out before school started but then I started getting a writer's block before it and then school did start and whoop, big stress and big anxieties kicking in. Though I finally just screamed at myself to get this out because OH MY GOODNESS IT NEEDED TO GET OUT. I literally worked on this almost all frickin' night I'm not even kidding. 
> 
> So, I hope you liked the chapter and hopefully everyone is still here. To the people that are, hi hi I am so sorry again thank you very much for your patience like seriously :')

**Author's Note:**

> Feed back of any kind is very much appreciated. I’m always up for improving. The first chapter is kinda short, but they do get longer as the story progresses. That’s all really, so, I hope you enjoy the story :)


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